1920 German federal election

The 1920 German federal election was held on 6 June 1920 to elect the first Reichstag of the Weimar Republic. It succeeded the Weimar National Assembly elected in January 1919, which had drafted and ratified the republican constitution. The election was delayed in three electoral districts – Schleswig-Holstein and East Prussia until 20 February 1921, and Upper Silesia (Oppeln) until 19 November 1922 – due to territorial plebiscites.

The parties of the Weimar Coalition, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Catholic Centre Party (Centre), and German Democratic Party (DDP), had won the last election in a landslide and were largely responsible for drafting the new constitution. This coalition suffered major losses to opposing parties on the left and right and won just 44% of the vote between them. The Independent Social Democrats, rejecting compromise with the moderate and conservative parties, emerged as the second-largest party behind the SPD. The right-wing nationalist German National People's Party (DNVP) and conservative German People's Party (DVP) placed third and fourth, ahead of the Centre and DDP. A total of ten parties won seats, including the Bavarian People's Party (BVP), which had split from the Centre and took a more right-wing course, and the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), which remained marginal with 2% of the vote and 4 seats. Voter turnout was about 79.2%, down about four percentage points since January 1919.

The election was held ahead of schedule in the aftermath of the attempted Kapp Putsch, which had been defeated by a combination of civil disobedience and a general strike after the Reichswehr refused to intervene. This event radicalised large sections of both the left, who were alarmed at the disloyalty of the military, and the middle classes, who feared further unrest and violence. Also playing a major part in the national mood was the deeply unpopular Treaty of Versailles, which the Weimar Coalition parties were blamed for accepting.

The Reichstag was divided between left, centre, and right, none of whom commanded a majority. After negotiations, a centre-right minority government of the Centre, DDP, and DVP, led by Constantin Fehrenbach, took office with external support from the SPD.

Electoral system
The Reichstag was elected via party list proportional representation. For this purpose, the country was divided into 35 multi-member electoral districts. A party was entitled to a seat for every 60,000 votes won. This was calculated via a three-step process on the constituency level, an intermediary level which combined multiple constituencies, and finally nationwide, where all parties' excess votes were combined. In the third nationwide step, parties could not be awarded more seats than they had already won on the two lower constituency levels. Due to the fixed number of votes per seat, the size of the Reichstag fluctuated between elections based on the number of voters and turnout.

The voting age was 25 years. People who were incapacitated according to the Civil Code, who were under guardianship or provisional guardianship, or who had lost their civil rights of honour after a criminal court ruling were also not eligible to vote.

East Prussia and Schleswig-Holstein
The election result was amended by voting in the East Prussia and Schleswig-Holstein constituencies on 20 February 1921.

Upper Silesia
The election result was amended by voting in the Oppeln constituency on 19 November 1922.