1907 German federal election

1907 German federal election

25 January 1907 (1907-01-25)
All 397 seats in the Reichstag 199 seats needed for a majority
Registered	13,352,880 6.56%
Turnout	11,303,537 (84.65%) 8.57pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Franz von Ballestrem Otto von Manteuffel Ernst Bassermann Party Centre DKP NlP Last election 19.75%, 100 seats 9.49%, 52 seats 13.71%, 50 seats Seats won 101 59 56 Seat change 1 7 6 Popular vote 2,116,246 1,060,209 1,666,705 Percentage 18.79% 9.41% 14.80% Swing 0.96pp 0.08pp 1.10pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   DRP Leader Paul Singer & August Bebel Hermann Müller-Sagan Party SPD FVP DRP Last election 31.71%, 81 seats 5.65%, 21 seats 3.54%, 21 seats Seats won 43 29 24 Seat change 38 8 3 Popular vote 3,259,029 737,220 471,863 Percentage 28.94% 6.55% 4.19% Swing 2.77pp 0.90pp 0.65pp
Map of results (by constituencies)
President of the Reichstag before election Franz von Ballestrem Centre President of the Reichstag after election Udo zu Stolberg-Wernigerode Independent

Federal elections were held in Germany on 25 January 1907. Despite the Social Democratic Party (SPD) receiving a clear plurality of votes, they were hampered by the unequal constituency sizes that favoured rural seats. As a result, the Centre Party remained the largest party in the Reichstag after winning 101 of the 397 seats, whilst the SPD won only 43. Voter turnout was 84.7%.

This election was known as the "Hottentot Election" due to the scandal over the ongoing genocide of the Khoisan people in German South West Africa.

Results

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Social Democratic Party	3,259,029	28.94	−2.77	43	−38
	Centre Party	2,116,246	18.79	−0.96	101	+1
	National Liberal Party	1,666,705	14.80	+1.10	56	+6
	German Conservative Party	1,060,209	9.41	−0.08	59	+7
	Free-minded People's Party	737,220	6.55	+0.90	29	+8
	German Reich Party	471,863	4.19	+0.65	24	+3
	Free-minded Union	338,639	3.01	+0.55	14	+6
	Independent Polish	240,287	2.13	+0.40	10	+2
	German People's Party	123,731	1.10	0.24	7	+2
	Agrarian League	131,688	1.17	−0.36	7	+2
	German Reform Party	114,807	1.02	−0.44	6	0
	Alsace-Lorraine parties	149,055	1.32	−0.01	11	0
	German-Hanoverian Party	92,811	0.82	−0.24	2	−5
	Polish People's Party	88,628	0.79	−0.31	4	−1
	German Social Party	88,344	0.78	−0.16	8	+5
	Independent liberals	85,899	0.76	+0.66	3	0
	Middle Class parties	74,811	0.66	+0.59	2	+2
	Christian Social Party	61,555	0.55	+0.12	3	+1
	Other liberals	53,505	0.48	+0.11	0	0
	Polish Catholic Party	49,801	0.44	New	3	New
	Independent conservatives	48,620	0.43	+0.19	0	−1
	Bavarian Peasants' League	41,137	0.37	−0.32	0	−2
	Polish Court Party	39,393	0.35	−0.01	2	0
	Polish National Party	35,499	0.32	−0.15	1	0
	Other agrarians	30,465	0.27	−0.21	1	0
	Independent anti-semites	15,563	0.14	+0.07	0	0
	Danish Party	15,425	0.14	−0.02	1	0
	Other left-liberals	14,599	0.13	−0.22	0	0
	Lithuanian Party	4,221	0.04	−0.02	0	0
	Other conservatives	4,068	0.04	+0.03	0	0
Others		8,268	0.07	−0.04	0	0
Unknown		738	0.01	0.00	0	0
Total		11,262,829	100.00	–	397	0
Valid votes		11,262,829	99.64
Invalid/blank votes		40,708	0.36
Total votes		11,303,537	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		13,352,880	84.65
Source: Wahlen in Deutschland

Alsace-Lorraine

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Alsace-Lorraine Center Party	92,668	26.97	+2.53	7	+1
	Social Democratic Party	81,589	23.75	−0.42	2	+2
	Independent Lorraine Party	48,504	14.12	−1.69	3	−1
	Centre Party	43,348	12.62	+5.53	1	+1
	Lorraine Land Party	22,311	6.49	New	0	New
	Alsatian Liberals	16,318	4.75	−4.34	0	−2
	Alsace Liberal Group	14,876	4.33	+1.08	0	−1
	German Reich Party	9,469	2.76	−0.74	1	0
	Alsace-Lorraine protesters	7,883	2.29	−0.60	1	0
	Free-minded Union	5,638	1.64	−0.97	0	0
Others		738	0.21	−0.13	0	0
Unknown		215	0.06	+0.06	0	0
Total		343,557	100.00	–	15	0
Valid votes		343,557	99.12
Invalid/blank votes		3,054	0.88
Total votes		346,611	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		397,255	87.25
Source: Wahlen in Deutschland

Further reading

• Epstein, Klaus. “Erzberger and the German Colonial Scandals, 1905-1910.” The English Historical Review 74, no. 293 (1959): 637–63. http://www.jstor.org/stable/558886.