1920 German federal election

1920 German federal election

← 1919 6 June 1920 (1920-06-06) May 1924 →
All 459 seats in the Reichstag 230 seats needed for a majority
Registered	35,949,774 ( 2.3%)
Turnout	79.2% ( 3.8pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Otto Wels Hermann Müller Arthur Crispien Ernst Däumig Oskar Hergt Party SPD USPD DNVP Last election 37.9%, 165 seats 7.6%, 22 seats 10.3%, 44 seats Seats won 103 83 71 Seat change 62 61 27 Popular vote 6,179,991 4,971,220 4,249,100 Percentage 21.9% 17.6% 15.1% Swing 16.0pp 10.0pp 4.8pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Gustav Stresemann Karl Trimborn Carl Wilhelm Petersen Party DVP Centre DDP Last election 4.4%, 19 seats 19.7%, 91 seats 18.6%, 75 seats Seats won 65 64 39 Seat change 46 27 36 Popular vote 3,919,446 3,845,001 2,333,741 Percentage 13.9% 13.6% 8.3% Swing 9.5pp 6.1pp 10.3pp
Results by electoral constituency Results by district and independent city Results for each party
Government before election First Müller cabinet SPD–DDP–Z Government after election Fehrenbach cabinet Z–DDP–DVP

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Federal elections were held in Germany on 6 June 1920 to elect the first Reichstag of the Weimar Republic. It succeeded the Weimar National Assembly elected in January 1919, which had drafted and ratified the Weimar Constitution. The election took place during a period of political violence and widespread anger over the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The voting resulted in substantial losses for the three moderate parties of the Weimar Coalition that had dominated the National Assembly. There were corresponding gains for the parties on the left and right which had not supported the Assembly's aims.^[1]

The new Reichstag was unable to form a majority ruling coalition and settled for a centre-right minority government. The Weimar Republic's first election revealed an early loss of faith in democracy among German voters which foreshadowed the parliamentary difficulties that troubled the Republic throughout its short life.^[1] Of the 17 additional governments before Adolf Hitler became chancellor in 1933, only two (Stresemann I and Müller II) had majority coalitions in the Reichstag during their full term of office.