German federal election, November 1932

German federal election, November 1932

6 November 1932

All 584 seats in the Reichstag 293 seats needed for a majority Turnout 80.58%   First party Second party Third party   Leader Adolf Hitler Otto Wels Ernst Thälmann Party NSDAP SPD KPD Leader since 28 July 1921 1919 October 1925 Last election 230 seats, 37.27% 133 seats, 21.58% 89 seats, 14.32% Seats won 196 121 100 Seat change 34 12 11 Popular vote 11,737,395 7,251,690 5,980,614 Percentage 33.09% 20.43% 16.86% Swing 4.18% 1.15% 2.54%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Ludwig Kaas Alfred Hugenberg Heinrich Held Party Centre DNVP BVP Leader since September 1928 1928 27 June 1924 Last election 75 seats, 12.44% 37 seats, 5.91% 22 seats, 3.23% Seats won 70 52 20 Seat change 5 15 2 Popular vote 4,230,545 3,792,563 1,206,247 Percentage 11.93% 8.34% 3.09% Swing 0.51% 2.43% 0.14%

Chancellor before election Franz von Papen Non-partisan Elected Chancellor None (Schleicher appointed shortly afterward)

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Federal elections were held in Germany on 6 November 1932.^[1] They saw a significant drop in votes for the Nazi Party and increases for the Communists and the national conservative DNVP. It was the last free and fair all-German election before the Nazi Machtergreifung on 30 January 1933, as the following elections of March 1933 were already accompanied by massive suppression, especially against Communist and Social Democratic politicians. The next free election was not held until August 1949 in West Germany; the next free all-German elections took place in December 1990 after reunification.

The results of the November 1932 election were a great disappointment for the Nazis. Although they emerged once more as the largest party by far, they had fewer seats than before, and failed to form a government coalition in the Reichstag parliament. So far Chancellor Franz von Papen, a former member of the Catholic Centre Party, had governed without parliamentary support relying on legislative decrees promulgated by Reich President Paul von Hindenburg according to Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution. However, on 12 September 1932 Papen had to ask Hindenburg to dissolve the parliament in order to preempt a motion of no confidence tabled by the Communist Party, which was expected to pass (since the Nazis were expected to vote in favour, as they also desired new elections). Thus, the election of November 1932 was held following this dissolution of parliament in September. The DNVP, which had backed Papen, gained 15 seats as a result.

After the election, Chancellor Papen urged Hindenburg to continue to govern by emergency decrees. Nevertheless, on 3 December he was superseded by his Defence Minister Kurt von Schleicher who in talks with the left wing of the Nazi Party led by Gregor Strasser tried to build up a Third Position (Querfront) strategy. These plans failed when in turn Hitler disempowered Strasser and approached Papen for coalition talks. Papen obtained Hindenburg's consent to form the Hitler Cabinet on 30 January 1933.

Results

References

Elections in Germany Parliamentary elections 1848 1867 (Feb) 1867 (Aug) 1868 1871 1874 1877 1878 1881 1884 1887 1890 1893 1898 1903 1907 1912 1919 1920 1924 (May) 1924 (Dec) 1928 1930 1932 (July) 1932 (Nov) 1933 (Mar) 1933 (Nov) 1936 1938 1949 1953 1957 1961 1965 1969 1972 1976 1980 1983 1987 1990 1994 1998 2002 2005 2009 2013 Next Presidential elections 1925 1932 European elections 1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 Referendums 1926 1928 1929 1933 1934 1936 1938 See also elections in Baden-Württemberg Bavaria Berlin Brandenburg Bremen Hamburg Hesse Lower Saxony Mecklenburg-Vorpommern North Rhine-Westphalia Rhineland-Palatinate Saarland Saxony Saxony-Anhalt Schleswig-Holstein Thuringia East Germany East Prussia Lower Silesia