1919 Prussian state election

1919 Prussian state election

26 January 1919

All 401 seats in the State Assembly
201 seats needed for a majority
Turnout74.8%
Party Vote % Seats
Social Democratic Party 36.4% 145
Centre Party 22.2% 93
German Democratic Party 16.2% 65
German National People's Party 11.2% 48
Independent Social Democratic Party 7.4% 24
German People's Party 5.7% 23
German-Hanoverian Party 0.5% 2
Schleswig-Holstein Farmers' Democracy 0.4% 1
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Government before Government after
Council of People's Deputies
SPD
Hirsch cabinet
SPDZDDP

State elections were held in the Free State of Prussia on 26 January 1919. The elections were held a week after the elections to the federal National Assembly, and were the first elections of Prussian institutions held using proportional representation and with women's suffrage. The election was also the first truly free and fair Prussian election, as it was the first election held after the abolition of the Prussian three-class franchise, which grouped voters by the amount of taxes paid and gave disproportionate weight to the wealthy.

The State Assembly (Landesversammlung) functioned as both a constituent assembly and legislature. The parties of the "Weimar Coalition", the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Centre Party (Zentrum), and German Democratic Party (DDP), won a sweeping majority. Together they won 74.8% of the votes cast. SPD politician Paul Hirsch, who had been appointed Minister-President of Prussia in November 1918, continued in office, and was succeeded by Otto Braun in early 1920.