Referendum on the dissolution of the third Hessian state parliament
The referendum on the dissolution of the third Hessian state parliament took place on December 5, 1926. The majority of voters rejected an early dissolution of the Landtag of the People's State of Hesse .
background
In the state elections in the People's State of Hesse in 1924 , the Weimar coalition was re-confirmed mathematically. Otto von Brentano di Tremezzo (center) tried to form a middle-class coalition of the center, the DDP, the DVP and the farmers' union after the election. After this attempt failed, Ulrich II's cabinet was confirmed.
According to Article 24 of the Hessian Constitution , the state parliament did not have the right to dissolve itself . Instead, it was stipulated that "the state parliament can only be dissolved by a referendum before its term expires." The Hessian Constitution also stipulated that a referendum had to take place if one twentieth of those eligible to vote in the last election to the state parliament voted in favor of such a vote. The associated implementation law, the law on popular initiatives and referendums of March 17, 1921, did not set a deadline for collecting the supporters' signatures, so the collection could take place without time pressure. Compared to the other states of the Weimar Republic , the People's State of Hesse thus had the longest deadlines and lowest quorums. In April 1926, the opposition's attempt to amend the constitution to give the state parliament a right to dissolve itself with a simple majority in the state parliament failed.
Even if the legislative period in the People's State of Hesse lasted only three years and the state parliament would be re-elected the following year anyway, the opposition saw the opportunity for new elections and a change of government. The Hessian Farmers' Union , the German People's Party , the German National People's Party , the Communist Party of Germany , the National Socialist Freedom Movement and the Economic Party of the German Mittelstand therefore called for a referendum to prematurely dissolve the state parliament in 1926 under the name of the Economic and Order Block . The initiative's slogan was "Send the Landtag home!". In addition to the governing parties, the SPD , the German Democratic Party and the Center , the United Schaffende Hessian Farmers also rejected the dissolution.
The referendum
Since 846,196 citizens were eligible to vote in the last state election, the opposition had to collect 42,310 valid signatures for the successful referendum. This goal was clearly exceeded. 168,742 signatures were given to the electoral authorities. In addition to the 10 signatures of the initiators, 62,440 of these came from the Starkenburg province , 65,948 from the Upper Hesse province and 40,344 from Rheinhessen . Of these, however, only a third were recognized as valid by the head of the regional vote. The initiators had two weeks to make improvements in order to correct the inadequate votes. In the end, 90,846 signatures were invalid, 15,879 had been returned to the initiators and returned uncorrected, and 61,999 signatures had been recognized as valid. The quorum was thus fulfilled. There were many reasons for non-recognition. In 74,955 cases it was complained that the entries were not made by the signatory but by third parties. This did not primarily refer to the signature, but also the maiden name, occupation and place of residence had to be entered personally by the signatories. 5287 signatures were illegible or incomplete, 5730 signatures were not entered on the official signature lists, 3146 signatures were inadequate or not certified and 1746 were rejected for other legal reasons.
The referendum
After the quorum was reached, December 5, 1926 was set as the voting date.
The results of the provincial elections were as follows
| province | Eligible voters | Votes cast | Valid votes | Yes | No | LTW yes (*) | LTW yes (*) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starkenburg | 409699 | 205404 | 202400 | 95472 | 106928 | 118044 | 182211 |
| Province of Upper Hesse | 210078 | 105840 | 104802 | 63282 | 41520 | 81575 | 66257 |
| Rheinhessen | 256478 | 116115 | 114969 | 43572 | 71397 | 48788 | 128257 |
| Hesse | 876255 | 427359 | 422171 | 202326 | 219845 | 248407 | 376725 |
- This column contains the proportion of votes of the parties that support / reject the referendum in the last state election.
The results of the district elections were as follows
| circle | Eligible voters | Votes cast | Valid votes | Yes | No | LTW yes | LTW yes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bensheim district | 44461 | 19217 | 18928 | 9310 | 9618 | 11635 | 18729 |
| Dieburg district | 41092 | 19914 | 19615 | 9631 | 9984 | 12403 | 17323 |
| District of Erbach | 30215 | 14731 | 14542 | 8014 | 6528 | 8945 | 11724 |
| Groß-Gerau district | 45349 | 20969 | 20685 | 10501 | 10184 | 11413 | 19287 |
| Heppenheim district | 32623 | 10587 | 10459 | 3748 | 6711 | 6326 | 14894 |
| Offenbach district | 116152 | 61515 | 60571 | 24755 | 35816 | 31242 | 57614 |
| Pouring circle | 65001 | 33444 | 33141 | 18500 | 14641 | 24684 | 21697 |
| Alsfeld district | 24189 | 10853 | 10761 | 7781 | 2980 | 10042 | 5390 |
| Büdingen district | 27465 | 11844 | 11739 | 8278 | 3461 | 10761 | 6995 |
| Friedberg district | 56459 | 32739 | 32318 | 15460 | 16858 | 19055 | 24263 |
| Lauterbach district | 19132 | 8219 | 8158 | 6335 | 1823 | 8432 | 4561 |
| Circle bulkheads | 17832 | 8741 | 8685 | 6928 | 1757 | 8601 | 3351 |
| Mainz district | 104799 | 46976 | 46456 | 12717 | 33739 | 13334 | 59027 |
| Alzey district | 26779 | 11662 | 11565 | 4821 | 6744 | 5964 | 12422 |
| Bingen district | 29525 | 10569 | 10472 | 4047 | 6425 | 4130 | 15547 |
| Oppenheim district | 31700 | 13471 | 13359 | 5980 | 7379 | 6795 | 14557 |
| District of Worms | 63675 | 33437 | 33117 | 16007 | 17110 | 18565 | 26704 |
Participation in the referendum was 50.14%, significantly lower than in the previous state election with 75.3%. The governing parties had not succeeded as well in motivating their supporters for the referendum as the opposition. While the governing parties still had a lead of 128,318 votes over the opposition in the state elections, the lead of the "no" votes was now 17,519. At the provincial level, there was only a majority in favor of dissolving the state parliament in Upper Hesse. There the opposition had already received a majority of the votes in the state elections. The government found the greatest support in the state elections and the referendum in the heavily industrialized districts of Offenbach and Gießen (which were SPD party strongholds ) and in the Catholic parts of the country that dominated the center.
consequences
Since the referendum did not result in a majority for the dissolution of the state parliament, it remained active until the regular end of its electoral term. After that, the fourth state parliament was regularly elected with the state elections in the People's State of Hesse in 1927 .
literature
- Communications from the Hessian Central Office for State Statistics, No. 12, December 1926, pp. 145–146.
- Eckhart G. Franz: People's State of Hesse 1918–1945; in: Handbuch der Hessischen Geschichte, 2nd part, 3rd delivery, 2003, ISBN 3-7708-1237-9 , pp. 899-900.
Web links
- "Popular initiative of the right to dissolve the state parliament, June 16, 1926", in: Contemporary history in Hessen Online (as of June 26, 2018)
- "Referendum on the dissolution of the Hessian state parliament, December 5, 1926", in: Contemporary history in Hessen Online (as of December 5, 2017)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rbl. P. 60ff.
- ↑ Frank Meerkamp: The Quora Question in the People's Legislative Procedure: Importance and Development, 2011, ISBN 978-3-531-93062-6 , p. 164, digitized
