German federal election, 1928
historyThe 1928 federal election in Germany took place on May 20, 1928.
{| border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;" |- bgcolor=lightgrey ! | Party ! colspan = "2" | Vote percentage (change) ! colspan = "2" | Seats (change) |- | Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) | align="right" | 29.8% | align="right" | 3.8% | align="right" | 153 | align="right" | +22 |- | German National People's Party (DNVP) | align="right" | 14.3% | align="right" | -6.2% | align="right" | 73 | align="right" | -30 |- | Centre Party (Z) | align="right" | 12.1% | align="right" | -1.5% | align="right" | 61 | align="right" | -8 |- | Communist Party of Germany (KPD) | align="right" | 10.6% | align="right" | +1.7% | align="right" | 54 | align="right" | +9 |- | German People's Party (DVP) | align="right" | 8.7% | align="right" | -1.4% | align="right" | 45 | align="right" | -6 |- | German Democratic Party (DDP) | align="right" | 4.8% | align="right" | -1.5% | align="right" | 25 | align="right" | -7 |- | Reich Party of the German Middle Class (WP) | align="right" | 4.5% | align="right" | +2.2% | align="right" | 23 | align="right" | +11 |- | Bavarian People's Party (BVP) | align="right" | 3.1% | align="right" | -0.6% | align="right" | 17 | align="right" | -2 |- | National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) | align="right" | 2.6% | align="right" | -0.4% | align="right" | 12 | align="right" | -2 |- | Christian-National Peasants' and Farmers' Party (CNBL) | align="right" | 1.9% | align="right" | - | align="right" | 9 | align="right" | - |- | Right-Wing People's Party | align="right" | 1.6% | align="right" | - | align="right" | 2 | align="right" | - |- | German Farmers' Party (DBP) | align="right" | 1.6% | align="right" | - | align="right" | 8 | align="right" | - |- | Agricultural League | align="right" | 0.7% | align="right" | -0.9% | align="right" | 3 | align="right" | -1 |- | German-Hanoverian Party (DHP) | align="right" | 0.6% | align="right" | -0.3% | align="right" | 4 | align="right" | -0 |- | Sächsische Landvolk | align="right" | 0.4% | align="right" | - | align="right" | 2 | align="right" | - |- | Other | align="right" | 2.7% | align="right" | -0.4% | align="right" | 0 | align="right" | +-0 |- |- bgcolor=lightgrey ! | Total ! align="right" | 100.0% ! align="right" | ! align="right" | 491 ! align="right" | -2 |}
The only two parties to gain significantly were the Social Democrats (SPD) who polled almost a third of votes, and the Communist Party (KPD), completing a thorough victory of the left-wing. However, although the SPD now had 153, they still failed to gain a clear majority, resulting in another coalition government lead by Hermann MüllerD. Evans & J. Jenkins, Years of Weimar & the Third Reich, 83.. Following his appointment, Müller, who had already been Germany's Chancellor for 4 months in 1920, created a grand coalition of members of the SDP, DDP, Catholic Centre Party and DVP. The coalition though, was plagued by internal divisions right from the beginning, with each party more concerned with their self interest than the interest of the government and eventually Müller asked President Paul Von Hindenburg for emergency powers. When Hindenburg refused, Müller resigned, marking the end of the 'last genuinely democratic government of the Weimar Republic'D. Evans & J. Jenkins, Years of Weimar & the Third Reich, 88. on 27 March 1930.
Despite the Nazi Party's poor overall result in 1928, their electability was actually increasing with the stirring of the Great Depression - in some rural areas, the first to be hit by the depression, the NSDAP polled over 10% of the vote'Germany following the May 1928 election', »»http://www.blacks.veriovps.co.uk/content/3528.html (07 January 2008), a trend which would continue until Hitler's consolidation of power in the early to mid 1930s.