German presidential election, 1919

German presidential election, 1919
Germany
February 11, 1919

 
Nominee Friedrich Ebert Arthur von Posadowsky-Wehner
Party SPD DNVP
Electoral vote 277 49
Percentage 73.1% 12.9%

President before election

None

President-Elect

Friedrich Ebert
SPD

The presidential election (Reichspräsidentenwahl) of 1919 was the first election to the office of President of the Reich (Reichspräsident), Germany's head of state during the 1919-1933 Weimar Republic. The constitution that stipulated a direct popular vote was not completed before 11 August 1919. Because a head of state was needed immediately the 1919 presidential election was held indirectly, by the National Assembly, on 11 February 1919. The winner was SPD chairman Friedrich Ebert, who beat former (Imperial) Secretary of the Interior Arthur von Posadowsky-Wehner in the first round of voting by 277 to 49 votes. Ebert was supported by the SPD, the German Centre Party and the German Democratic Party (DDP), the parties of the "Weimar Coalition", which held more than 77 per cent of the seats in the National Assembly. He became president of Germany.

The complete results were as follows:

73.1 %

277 votes

12.9 %

49 votes

0.3 %

1 vote

0.3 %

1 vote

13.5 %

51 votes

44 votes

Friedrich

Ebert

Arthur Graf von

Posadowsky

Philipp

Scheidemann

Matthias

Erzberger

invalid not voted
Candidate (Party) supported by votes percent
Friedrich Ebert (SPD) SPD, DDP, Zentrum 277 73.1 %
Arthur Graf von Posadowsky-Wehner (DNVP) DNVP 49 12.9 %
Philipp Scheidemann (SPD) - 1 0.3 %
Matthias Erzberger (Zentrum) - 1 0.3 %
Delegates eligible to vote 423 100.0 %
cast votes 379 89.6 %
valid votes 328 86.5 %
invalid votes 51 13.5 %

See also


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