Elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative ...

to the Zollparlament of the German

Zollverein The (), or German Customs Union, was a coalition of German states formed to manage tariffs and economic policies within their territories. Organized by the 1833 treaties, it formally started on 1 January 1834. However, its foundations had b ...

were held in February and March 1868. The Zollparlament consisted of the members of the Reichstag of the

North German Confederation The North German Confederation (german: Norddeutscher Bund) was initially a German military alliance established in August 1866 under the leadership of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was transformed in the subsequent year into a confederated st ...

and members from the South German states. Those South German members were elected in these elections, the North Germans were the Reichstag members elected the previous year. In total, 85 South Germans were elected: 48 from Bavaria, 14 from Baden, six from Hesse-Darmstadt (additionally to the three Reichstag members in the province of

Upper Hesse The term Upper Hesse (german: Provinz Oberhessen) originally referred to the southern possessions of the Landgraviate of Hesse, which were initially geographically separated from the more northerly Lower Hesse by the . Later, it became the name o ...

), and 17 from Württemberg. Most of the South German Zollparlament members were anti-Prussian regionalists. The outcome of the elections did not encourage Bismarck to take advantage of the Zollparlament as a vehicle for the politician

unification of Germany The unification of Germany (, ) was the process of building the modern German nation state with federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without multinational Austria), which commenced on 18 August 1866 with adoption of t ...

Results

Baden

Bavaria

Hessen

Württemberg

References

{{German elections

1868 Events January–March * January 2 – British Expedition to Abyssinia: Robert Napier leads an expedition to free captive British officials and missionaries. * January 3 – The 15-year-old Mutsuhito, Emperor Meiji of Jap ...

1868 elections in Europe 1868 elections in Germany February 1868 events March 1868 events