State elections were held in the Free State of Prussia on 26 January 1919. The elections were held a week after the elections to the federal National Assembly, and were the first elections of Prussian institutions held using proportional representation and with women's suffrage. The election was also the first truly free and fair Prussian election, as it was the first election held after the abolition of the Prussian three-class franchise, which grouped voters by the amount of taxes paid and gave disproportionate weight to the wealthy.
The State Assembly (Landesversammlung) functioned as both a constituent assembly and legislature. The parties of the Weimar Coalition, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Centre Party, and German Democratic Party (DDP), won a sweeping majority. Together they won 74.8% of the votes cast. SPD politician Paul Hirsch, who had been appointed Minister-President of Prussia in November 1918, continued in office, and was succeeded by Otto Braun in early 1920.
Results Party Votes % Seats Social Democratic Party (SPD) 6,278,291 36.38 145 Centre Party/Christian People's Party 3,834,953 22.22 93 German Democratic Party (DDP) 2,796,359 16.20 65 German National People's Party (DNVP) 1,936,939 11.22 48 Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD) 1,280,803 7.42 24 German People's Party (DVP) 981,665 5.69 23 German-Hanoverian Party (DHP) 84,975 0.49 2 Schleswig-Holstein Farmers and Farmworkers Democracy (SHBLD) 61,565 0.36 1 Christian Social Party 1.211 0.01 0 Protestant People's Party 552 0.00 0 Social Reform Party 31 0.00 0 Invalid/blank votes 0.37 – Total 17,257,344 100 401 Registered voters/turnout 74.79 –Gonschior.de
Results by constituency Constituency SPD Z DDP DNVP USPD DVP DHP SHBLD 1. East Prussia 45.6 11.4 17.1 14.4 3.6 7.8 – – 2. West Prussia 28.4 15.2 26.4 25.5 4.5 – – – 3. Berlin 35.1 5.5 15.3 10.4 28.2 5.5 – – 4. Potsdam I 41.4 2.4 20.1 13.9 14.6 7.7 – – 5. Potsdam II 35.2 4.0 20.4 15.0 15.0 10.4 – – 6. Frankfurt-Oder 51.8 1.7 21.6 20.8 0.7 3.3 – – 7. Pomerania 41.9 0.6 19.3 26.6 1.4 10.2 – – 8. Posen 15.9 9.7 19.3 39.5 – 15.7 – – 9. Breslau 47.0 22.2 14.6 16.1 0.1 – – – 10. Oppeln 29.7 49.3 5.5 7.4 – 8.2 – – 11. Liegnitz 50.4 9.7 25.7 14.1 – – – – 12. Magdeburg 57.9 1.7 23.8 9.9 3.3 3.3 – – 13. Merseburg-Erfurt 16.3 5.9 23.4 13.6 39.5 1.4 – – 14. Schleswig-Holstein 46.2 1.0 26.7 7.7 2.8 7.1 – 8.5 15. Aurich-Stade-Osnabrück 31.5 18.2 18.9 4.3 – 9.7 17.5 – 16. Hannover-Hildesheim-Lüneburg 46.8 9.4 2.6 1.2 8.6 31.5 – 17. Münster-Minden-Kreis Schaumburg 28.0 48.0 7.7 8.1 1.8 6.2 – – 18. Arnsberg 40.9 29.9 9.3 4.6 15.2 – – 19. Hesse-Nassau 40.2 18.9 21.6 9.6 3.5 6.2 – – 20. Cologne/Aachen 25.0 61.3 7.4 2.9 3.4 0.0 – – 21. Koblenz/Trier 21.3 60.6 14.9 3.2 – – – 22. Düsseldorf 1–5 27.2 28.9 11.2 15.4 17.3 – – 23. Düsseldorf 6–12 27.0 51.5 6.8 6.1 – 8.6 – – 24. Sigmaringen – 99.8 – – – – – – Note: shaded boxes indicate the party that won the most votes in the constituency.
See also Elections in the Free State of Prussia Weimar Republic
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