Reich Election Act (Weimar Republic)
The Reich Election Act of April 27, 1920 was a law in the Weimar Republic . It regulated the elections to the Reichstag , Germany's parliament. It was enacted by the Weimar National Assembly , which at that time still served as a substitute parliament instead of a Reichstag (Art. 180 WRV). The National Assembly thus complied with a mandate from the Weimar Constitution of August 11, 1919 (Art. 22 Para. 2 WRV).
The reason for the urgent adoption of the law was the Kapp Putsch in March of that year. The National Assembly wanted to take the criticism out of the sails from the right. The putschists justified themselves with the fact that despite the new constitution, the Reich President had not yet been elected by the people and the National Assembly had not yet been replaced by a constitutional Reichstag.
The National Assembly itself was elected on November 30, 1918. This was issued by the Council of People's Representatives . There were some important differences between the council electoral system and the new law's electoral system; Thus the National Assembly was elected with multiple constituencies and the later Reichstag according to lists on three different levels. The principles of the election, however, were the same: the new law continued the principle of proportional representation and the right to vote for women .
Elected according to the law was first elected in June 1920 . The Reich Election Act applied to a total of eight Reichstag elections, including the election of March 1933 , which took place under the Nazi terror. There were three other elections under National Socialism. The old legislation remained in force, but there was only one list available, that of the National Socialists.
Origin and development
The law (RGBl. P. 627) was one of a number of important laws that were passed quickly in April and May, between the Kapp Putsch and the end of the National Assembly. The others with reference to elections were the Reich Electoral Code and the Law on the Election of the Reich President.
On January 19, 1920, the Cabinet had received proposals for voting rights from the Constitutional Department of the Interior Ministry. The National Assembly criticized that the proposals contained three different drafts, which delayed the legislative process. In some cases, drafts stipulated that a constituency should elect a certain number of MPs. Interior Minister Erich Koch-Weser finally presented a draft to the Constitutional Committee in February. The question of the electoral division cost further time: the cabinet did not decide on this draft until March 12, and the Kapp putschists were already ruling Berlin a day later. Under time pressure, the constituency of the National Assembly election was used, even though many MPs wanted smaller constituencies. On April 23, the Reichstag approved with a large majority.
Reich President Friedrich Ebert was only able to determine an election date through the Reich Election Act (Section 42) . On March 6 and March 13, 1924, the law was slightly revised.
Electoral system
Germany was divided into 35 constituencies during the Weimar Republic . One to three constituencies each formed a constituency association. The third level for the vote evaluation was the realm. One party submitted electoral lists (“district election proposals”) in the constituencies and also submitted an “Reich election proposal” at the national level. For every 60,000 votes in the constituency, one party received a mandate ; there was also an evaluation of the remaining votes at a higher level. It was an advantage for a small party if its following was regionally concentrated.
This so-called automatic method meant that the total number of mandates depended on how many votes were cast. When the turnout was low, the Reichstag was smaller than when it was high. In practice, however, voter turnout in the republic was always relatively high.
Anyone who was at least 20 years old was allowed to vote. The Germans had the right to stand as candidates if they were at least 25 years old. Among other things, the active soldiers were (again) without the right to vote, even though they had voted in the National Assembly.
rating
The electoral system for the Reichstag elections was already criticized by contemporaries for giving relatively small parties the opportunity to get into the Reichstag. Therefore, it led to the fragmentation of the party landscape and political instability. However, due to the Weimar proportional representation system, on average no more parties entered the Reichstag than in the German Empire. The downfall of the republic did not result in small parties, but in the strength of anti-republican parties like the NSDAP .
The right to vote in the Reichstag is to be seen in connection with the direct election of the Reich President and the people's legislation. Especially through the direct election of a powerful Reich President, the Reichstag was not the only Reich organ legitimized by direct election. That was in the interests of the constitutional parents, who wanted to prevent both a dictatorship by the Reich President and “parliamentary absolutism”.
“The Reich election law [...] remained in force until 1933, despite repeated attempts to reform it. Thus an electoral law, which his fathers thought of as a provisional solution born out of time constraints, at least with regard to the constituency division, about the immediate amendment of which there seemed to be no differences, became a pillar of the young democracy, which should prove to be unsustainable. "
See also
- Suffrage of the Weimar Republic
- List of constituencies and constituency associations of the Weimar Republic
- Right to vote in the time of National Socialism
supporting documents
- ^ Eberhard Schanbacher: Parliamentary elections and electoral system in the Weimar Republic. Droste Verlag, Düsseldorf 1982 (articles on the history of parliamentarism and political parties 69), pp. 84–86.
- ^ Ernst Rudolf Huber: German constitutional history since 1789. Volume VI: The Weimar Imperial Constitution . W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart [et al.] 1981, pp. 683/684; ders .: German constitutional history since 1789. Volume VII: Expansion, protection and fall of the Weimar Republic . W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart [et al.] 1984, p. 138.
- ^ Alfred Milatz: Voters and elections in the Weimar Republic, Federal Agency for Civic Education , Bonn 1965 (series of publications by the Federal Agency for Civic Education 66), p. 41.
- ^ Eberhard Schanbacher: Parliamentary elections and electoral system in the Weimar Republic. Droste Verlag, Düsseldorf 1982 (articles on the history of parliamentarism and political parties 69), p. 89.