1913 Hamburg state election

The 1913 Hamburg state election was held sometime during the year 1913. The electorate was split into two regions, the inner city with one electoral district, and the rural regions with four electoral districts.[1]

1913 Hamburg state election

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36 out of 160 in the Bürgerschaft
Turnout94.60% Increase 0.99pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Basedow
Leader Otto Stolten Hermann Basedow Dietrich Heinrich Daniel Blinckmann
Party SPD VL L
Seats won 10 8 7
Seat change Increase 1 Decrease 2 Decrease 1

  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Binder Dr. H. von Reiche
Party LZ R
Seats won 5 6
Seat change Increase 1 Increase 1

Background and electoral system

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Enfranchised citizen, as defined for the Hamburg state elections, were males who paid a certain amount of income tax. Every voter had a total 12 votes.

After the voter disenfranchisement law of 1906, sparked by the electoral victory of the SPD, the subsequent state elections of 1907, 1910, and 1913 would use a system of heavily weighted class suffrage that divided the enfranchised male population into two groups. Group I was made up of citizen who had paid an average annual income tax of above 2,500 ℛ︁ℳ︁ for the last three years, whereas Group II was made up of citizen who paid between 1,200 and 2,500 ℛ︁ℳ︁ in taxes annually. Furthermore, landowners and the notables (primarily current and former MPs) were also enfranchised with 40 representatives per group. A weighted voting system as used to disenfranchise Group II as much as possible. It has been calculated by Margarete Wolters that a notable's vote counted 59 times, a landowner's vote 17 times, and the vote of any other Group I elector counted four times as much as a vote from any one Group II elector.[2]

In the years 1910 and 1913, in the last elections according to the electoral law of 1906, the gradation of Hamburg's population was as follows:[2][3]

Population group Population Allocated Seats[a]
In the urban areas 77,241 72 (36)
└ Group I 28,479 48 (24)
└ Group II 48,762 24 (12)
In the rural areas 5,946 8
Land owners 8,731 40
Notables 954 40
Wealthy voters total 38,164 128
Total voters 83,187 160
Total population 1,037,275 0

Results

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PartyGroup IGroup IISeats
Votes%SeatsVotes%SeatsWonNot upTotal+/–
Social Democratic Party13,8458.752197,19662.168101020+1
United Liberals39,49924.97658,13318.33281728-2
Faction of the Left38,76524.50624,6677.78172836-1
Faction of the Left Centre29,04718.36512,2783.87053136+1
Faction of the Right29,83818.86518,6295.87163640+1
Hamburger Conservative Alliance6,1443.8804,9591.560000±0
Fruit- and Vegetable-traders4510.2901,3180.420000±0
Independents6190.390520.020000±0
Total158,208100.0024317,232100.001236122160±0
Registered voters/turnout94.60[b]
Source: Die Ergebnisse der Wahlen zur hamburgischen Bürgerschaft im Jahre 1913. p. 6

Notes

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  1. ^ The numbers in brackets indicate the number of seats up for actual election, the rest of representatives were the so-called elders (Erbgesessene) that were to keep a life-long seat.
  2. ^ For both groups combined.

References

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  1. ^ Sköllin, Statistische Mittteilung, p. 59.
  2. ^ a b Eckardt, Von der privilegierten Herrschaft zur parlamentarischen Demokratie, pp. 53/54
  3. ^ Niehuss, Strategien zur Machterhaltung, pp. 87

Literature

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  • Prof. Dr. Sköllin (1919). Statistische Mittteilung über den hamburgischen Staat, Nr. 8 - Die Neuwahl der hamburgischen Bürgerschaft am 16. März 1919. Direktor des Statistischen Landesamtes
  • Eckardt, Hans Wilhelm (2002). Von der privilegierten Herrschaft zur parlamentarischen Demokratie. Landeszentrale für politische Bildung. ISBN 3-929728-66-4
  • Niehuss, Merith (1989). Strategien zur Machterhaltung bürgerlicher Eliten am Beispiel kommunaler Wahlrechtsänderungen im ausgehenden Kaiserreich, Scripta Mercaturae Verlag.