1878 German federal election

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30 July 1878 (1878-07-30)

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All 397 seats in the Reichstag
199 seats needed for a majority

Registered

9,128,305

2.07%

Turnout

5,780,996 (63.33%)

2.69pp

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Rudolf von Bennigsen	Ludwig Windthorst	Otto von Helldorff
Party	NlP	Centre	DKP
Leader since	1867	26 May 1874	7 June 1876
Last election	26.67%, 127 seats	24.83%, 93 seats	9.59%, 40 seats
Seats won	97	94	59
Seat change	30	1	19
Popular vote	1,291,161	1,315,720	736,826
Percentage	22.41%	22.84%	12.79%
Swing	4.26 pp	1.99 pp	3.20 pp

	Fourth party	Fifth party	Sixth party
		DFP	Polen
Leader	Viktor I, Duke of Ratibor
Party	DRP	DFP	Polish Party
Last election	7.85%, 38 seats	7.64%, 34 seats	4.00%, 14 seats
Seats won	57	26	14
Seat change	19	8	0
Popular vote	785,631	395,065	216,148
Percentage	13.64%	6.86%	3.75%
Swing	5.79 pp	0.78 pp	0.25 pp

Map of results (by constituencies)

President of the Reichstag before election

Max von Forckenbeck
NlP

President of the Reichstag after election

Max von Forckenbeck
NlP

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Federal elections were held in Germany on 30 July 1878. The National Liberal Party remained the largest party in the Reichstag with 97 of the 397 seats, despite the Centre Party receiving more votes. Voter turnout was 63.4%.

Results


932612114159794105759
Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Centre Party	1,315,720	22.84	−1.99	94	+1
	National Liberal Party	1,291,161	22.41	−4.26	97	−30
	German Reich Party	785,631	13.64	+5.79	57	+19
	German Conservative Party	736,826	12.79	+3.20	59	+19
	Socialist Workers' Party	437,158	7.59	−1.55	9	−4
	German Progress Party	395,065	6.86	−0.78	26	−8
	Polish Party	216,148	3.75	−0.25	14	0
	Alsace-Lorraine parties	178,883	3.11	−0.59	15	0
	German-Hanoverian Party	106,555	1.85	+0.27	10	+6
	Independent liberals	99,511	1.73	+0.52	7	+2
	Löwe-Berger Group	78,152	1.36	−0.37	5	−4
	German People's Party	68,851	1.20	+0.37	3	−1
	Danish Party	16,145	0.28	−0.04	1	0
	Independent conservatives	9,936	0.17	−0.26	0	0
	Old Liberals	8,496	0.15	+0.02	0	0
	Christian Social Party	3,229	0.06	New	0	New
	Schleswig-Holstein Particularist Liberals	2,258	0.04	−0.06	0	0
Others		10,389	0.18	–0.05	0	0
Unknown		833	0.01	0.00	0	0
Total		5,760,947	100.00	–	397	0

Valid votes		5,760,947	99.65
Invalid/blank votes		20,049	0.35
Total votes		5,780,996	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		9,128,305	63.33
Source: Wahlen in Deutschland

Alsace-Lorraine


Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Protesters	70,524	34.52	−11.14	6	−1
	Clericals	59,970	29.36	+2.10	5	+2
	Autonomists	48,389	23.69	−1.16	4	−1
	German Reich Party	24,437	11.96	+11.75	0	0
	German Conservative Party	343	0.17	+0.14	0	0
	Socialist Workers' Party	141	0.07	New	0	New
Others		478	0.23	−0.37	0	0
Total		204,282	100.00	–	15	0

Valid votes		204,282	98.91
Invalid/blank votes		2,247	1.09
Total votes		206,529	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		322,310	64.08
Source: Wahlen in Deutschland

References

Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p762 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
Nohlen & Stöver, p788
Nohlen & Stöver, p773

v t e Elections and referendums 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 2017 2021 2025
Presidential elections	1925 1932
European elections	1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024
Referendums	1926 1929 1933 1934 1936 1938
See also: Elections and referendums 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 former: East Germany Free State of Prussia East Prussia

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