Reichstag constituency Palatinate (Bavaria) 1

The constituency of the German Reich.

The Reichstag constituency Pfalz (Bavaria) 1 was a constituency for the Reichstag elections in the German Empire from 1868 to 1918.

General

The Reichstag constituency Pfalz (Bavaria) 1 (also called Reichstag constituency Ludwigshafen-Speyer) included the cities of Speyer , Ludwigshafen and Frankenthal as well as the surrounding district offices . The constituency had an area of 622.57 square kilometers and in 1871 103,696 inhabitants (166.36 inhabitants / km²). In 1910 the population was 229,110 (368.00 inhabitants / km²). In terms of denomination, the proportion of Protestants was slightly higher than that of Catholics. In 1871 (1910) the proportion of Catholics was 47.1% (47.5%) and that of Protestants 49.4% (50.3%). The constituency was urban. 28.5% of the population lived in places with fewer than 2000 inhabitants.

MPs

choice	MP	Political party	image
Customs Parliament election 1868	Ludwig Roemich	Bavarian Patriot Party	0
Reichstag election 1871	Ludwig Heydenreich	NLP	0
Reichstag election 1874 to 1887	Ludwig Gross	Freedom party
Reichstag election 1887 to 1898	Carl Clemm	NLP
Reichstag election 1898 to 1908	Franz Josef Ehrhart	SPD
Supplementary election 1908 to 1918	Jakob Binder	SPD

elections

Customs Parliament election 1868

In the Customs Parliament election in 1868 , there was only one ballot. The number of eligible voters was 16,350, the number of voters 10,853. The turnout was 66.4%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
0	NLP	5026	46.3%	0
Ludwig Roemich	Bavarian Patriot Party	5819	53.6%	0

Reichstag election 1871

In the Reichstag election in 1871 there was only one ballot. The number of eligible voters was 16,430, the number of voters 10,871. The turnout was 59.1%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Ludwig Heydenreich	NLP	7972	73.1%	0
0	Bavarian Patriot Party	2889	26.6%	0

Reichstag election 1874

In the Reichstag election in 1874 , there was only one ballot. The number of eligible voters was 21,354, the number of voters 17,024. The turnout was 79.9%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %
0	SPD	752	4.4%
Ludwig Gross	Progress party	10,839	63.8%
0	Bavarian Patriot Party	5402	31.8%

Reichstag election 1877

In the Reichstag election in 1877 there was only one ballot. The number of eligible voters was 23,619 and the number of voters 17,476. The turnout was 74.2%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %
0	SPD	1,708	9.8%
Ludwig Gross	Progress party	10,012	57.3%
Johann Julius Siben	Bavarian Patriot Party	5414	31.0%
0	Others	335	1.9%

Reichstag election 1878

In the Reichstag election in 1878 there was only one ballot. The number of eligible voters was 24,096, the number of voters 17,180. The turnout was 71.5%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %
0	SPD	1,676	9.8%
Ludwig Gross	Progress party	9,482	55.2%
Johann Julius Siben	Bavarian Patriot Party	5399	31.4%
0	Others	612	3.6%

Reichstag election 1881

In the Reichstag election in 1881 there was only one ballot. The number of eligible voters was 24,306, the number of voters 13,011. The turnout was 53.7%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %
0	SPD	2912	22.4%
Ludwig Gross	NLP	6541	50.3%
0	Left liberals	47	0.3%
Johann Julius Siben	Bavarian Patriot Party	3170	24.4%
0	Others	298	2.3%

Reichstag election 1884

Two ballots took place in the Reichstag election in 1884 . The number of eligible voters in the first round of voting was 25,866 and the number of voters 19,183. The turnout was 74.4%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %
0	SPD	4822	25.1%
Ludwig Gross	NLP	8516	44.4%
0	Left liberals	1091	5.6%
Johann Julius Siben	Bavarian Patriot Party	4752	24.8%

In the runoff election, the number of voters was 18,015. The turnout was 70.1%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
0	SPD	7259	40.3%	0
Ludwig Gross	NLP	10,756	59.7%	0

Reichstag election 1887

In the Reichstag election in 1887 , there was only one ballot. The number of eligible voters was 27,794 and the number of voters 23,848. The turnout was 86.1%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %
0	SPD	4052	17.0%
Carl Clemm	NLP	12,986	54.4%
Johann Julius Siben	center	6793	28.5%

Reichstag election 1890

The German Liberal Party and the German People's Party agree in advance on the German-Liberal candidate Eisele. The Reich leadership of the center advised to support this candidate, the local center organization nominated Johann Julius Siben instead.

There were two ballots in the Reichstag election in 1890 . The number of eligible voters in the first round of voting was 29,222, the number of voters 23,540. The turnout was 80.7%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %
Franz Josef Ehrhart	SPD	5993	25.5%
Carl Clemm	NLP	10,379	44.1%
Eisele	Left liberals	1088	4.6%
Johann Julius Siben	center	6068	25.8%

Before the runoff election, the center reached an unofficial election agreement with the SPD. The center called for abstention in constituency 237 (Munich 1) , in return the SPD called for abstention or for the election of the center in the Reichstag constituency of Palatinate (Bavaria) 1.

In the runoff election, the number of voters was 24,681. The turnout was 85.2%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Carl Clemm	NLP	13,494	54.7%	0
Johann Julius Siben	center	11,187	45.3%	0

Reichstag election 1893

In the Reichstag election in 1893, there were two ballots. The number of eligible voters in the first round of voting was 31,289 and the number of voters was 26,158. The turnout was 83.6%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %
Franz Josef Ehrhart	SPD	7433	28.5%
Carl Clemm	NLP	12,103	46.4%
Merkle	Liberal People's Party	407	1.6%
Johann Julius Siben	center	6130	23.5%

There were no constituency agreements. In order to prevent center voters from assuming a runoff alliance (analogous to the last election), the center explicitly called for abstention in the runoff election.

In the runoff election, the number of voters was 22,667. The turnout was 72.4%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Franz Josef Ehrhart	SPD	8134	36.3%	0
Carl Clemm	NLP	14,256	63.7%	0

Reichstag election 1898

After long negotiations and several failed attempts, the NLP and BdL agree on the BdL candidate Mechtersheimer, who was supposed to join the NLP faction in the Reichstag. Clemm therefore had to forego a renewed candidacy because he was not accepted by the BdL.

There were two ballots in the Reichstag election in 1898 . The number of eligible voters in the first round of voting was 35,365, the number of voters 28,415. The turnout was 80.3%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %
Franz Josef Ehrhart	SPD	12.008	42.4%
Johann Martin Mechtersheimer	NLP	9304	32.9%
Merkle	Liberal People's Party	398	1.4%
Johann Julius Siben	center	6566	23.2%

Many NLP voters rejected the election of Mechtersheimer, his result was well behind that of the last election. For the runoff election, the center and NLP had agreed a runoff alliance nationwide. In the Reichstag constituency of Palatinate (Bavaria) 1, the local center refused to implement this decision. Mechtersheimer found the center ineligible because of its membership in the Evangelical Union . The center therefore called for abstention. Individual leading center members even called for the SPD election.

In the runoff election, the number of voters was 28,554. The turnout was 80.7%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Franz Josef Ehrhart	SPD	15,471	55.1%	0
Johann Martin Mechtersheimer	NLP	12,602	44.9%	0

Reichstag election 1903

In contrast to the last election, there was no BdL-NLP cooperation. Instead, they fell out and announced a "fight to the knife". The Free People's Party supported the NLP candidate.

There were two ballots in the 1903 Reichstag election. The number of eligible voters in the first round of voting was 41,754 and the number of voters 36,507. The turnout was 87.4%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %
Franz Josef Ehrhart	SPD	16,567	45.5%
Golfing	NLP	6990	19.2%
Johann Julius Siben	center	8095	22.2%
Abresch	BdL	4745	13.0%

In the runoff election, the NLP called for abstention. The center saw no more chance of victory and called for abstention, thus giving up the election. The BdL offered a run-off agreement (against the support of the center in WK 255), but the center refused this due to a lack of prospects of success. Such a task before the runoff election was very rare but not unique in Reichstag elections. There were similar tasks in 1898 in constituency 53 (Guben-Lübben) or in 1890 in constituency 271 (Dinkelsbühl).

There was speculation in the media that the center wanted to save the costs of the election campaign or wanted something good for future agreements with the SPD. It was criticized that this effectively removed voting secrecy : every participant in the runoff election came out as a socialist.

In the runoff election, the number of voters was 15,209. As expected, the turnout was only 36.4%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Franz Josef Ehrhart	SPD	14,777	99.2%	0
Johann Julius Siben	center	112	0.8%	0

Reichstag election 1907

BdL and NLP agree on the NLP candidate, the landowner Buhl. Young liberals and FVP and DVP joined this candidate.

In the general election in 1907 two rounds of voting were held. The number of eligible voters in the first round of voting was 44,931 and the number of voters 40,585. The turnout was 90.3%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %
Franz Josef Ehrhart	SPD	18,539	45.9%
Buhl	NLP	13,708	33.9%
Franz Hermann Laven	center	8169	20.2%

The center called for abstention in the runoff election. But under no circumstances should a voter vote for Buhl.

In the runoff election, the number of voters was 38,172. The turnout was 85.0%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Franz Josef Ehrhart	SPD	21,826	58.0%	0
Buhl	NLP	15,794	42.0%	0

Supplementary election 1908

NLP and BdL spoke out in favor of Arthur von Posadowsky-Wehner as a joint candidate, who also enjoyed great sympathy in the center. The center rejects him as a joint candidate. Posadowsky thereupon renounces a candidacy and Buhl is running for NLP and BdL. The center renounced its own candidate and called for abstention.

In the supplementary election in 1908, one ballot took place. The number of eligible voters was 45,802 and the number of voters 32,472. The turnout was 70.9%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Jakob Binder	SPD	19,293	61.3%	0
Buhl	NLP	12,165	38.7%	0

Reichstag election 1912

In the general election in 1912 , a ballot took place. The number of eligible voters was 49,440 and the number of voters 43,213. The turnout was 87.4%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %
Jakob Binder	SPD	21,811	50.9%
Knoll	NLP	10,786	25.2%
Schondorf	center	10,247	23.9%

literature

Ernst-Otto Bräunche: Parties and Reichstag elections in the Rhine Palatinate from the founding of the Reich in 1871 to the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Diss., 1982.
Carl-Wilhelm Reibel: Handbook of the Reichstag elections 1890-1918, 2nd half volume, 2007, ISBN 978-3-7700-5284-4 , pp. 1006-1010.