German Federal Election, 1890

Federal elections were held in Germany on 20 February 1890.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p762 The Centre Party regained its position as the largest party in the Reichstag by winning 107 of the 397 seats, whilst the National Liberal Party, formerly the largest party, was reduced to 38 seats.

Contemporaries remarked on the striking increase in the vote share of the Social Democratic Party. However, despite receiving the most votes, the Social Democratic Party won only 35 seats. Voter turnout was 71.5%.Nohlen & Stöver, p774

Campaign

This was the first general election during the reign of Emperor Wilhelm II. As such, it was marked by the conflict between the new Emperor, who unlike his grandfather Wilhelm I involved himself in day-to-day politics, and Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. At this time, the Emperor's primary concern was improving relations with the working classes. At the beginning of February, opposed by Bismarck who viewed it as a concession to the Social Democrats, Wilhelm II introduced labour protection legislation. Bismarck's attempt to make the Anti-Socialist Laws permanent had already been defeated in the Reichstag on 25 January. This failure was the result of divisions within the ( German Conservatives, Free Conservatives and National Liberals) otherwise supporting Bismarck, which was in turn because the Emperor had let it be known that he opposed extending the laws.

The election became a catastrophic defeat for the "Cartel", which lost 85 seats, and a victory for the Social Democrats. The latter nearly doubled their vote share compared to the 1887 elections, reaching 19.7% of the vote (around 1.4 million votes) and winning the popular vote for the first time. From his London exile, Friedrich Engels, Bremen, Hannover, Magdeburg, Frankfurt am Main, Mannheim, Nuremberg and Munich. All three Hamburg seats, two of the six Berlin seats and one of the two Breslau seats were also won by the party. Later that same year, the Anti-Socialist Laws were finally repealed, and the party renamed itself the SPD.

The Centre Party remained the strongest party, winning 106 constituencies (27.2% of seats) with 18.6% of the popular vote. The left-liberal parties also made significant gains in votes and representation. For the first time, members of German parties won seats in a few Alsace-Lorraine constituencies. Regionalists could, however, make gains elsewhere off the decline of the Cartel parties. The Antisemites gained only 0.7% of the votes, but won five constituencies. Their strongholds were the Grand Duchy of Hesse and Hesse-Nassau.

One month after the elections, Bismarck was dismissed from office. His successor, Leo von Caprivi, governed with the support of the Cartel parties and the Centre. The 8th Reichstag, theoretically the first to be elected for a five-year term – the extension from three to five years had been passed on the 18th of March 1888 – was however dissolved in 1893.

Results

Alsace-Lorraine

References

{{German elections

Federal elections in Germany
1890 elections in Germany
Elections in the German Empire
February 1890