1881 German federal election

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27 October 1881 (1881-10-27)

1884 →

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

Registered

9,090,386

Turnout

56.30% (

6.03pp)

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Ludwig Windthorst	Eugen Richter	Otto von Helldorff
Party	Centre	DFP	DKP
Leader since	26 May 1874		7 June 1876
Last election	22.84%, 94 seats	6.86%, 26 seats	12.79%, 59 seats
Seats won	100	58	50
Seat change	6	32	9
Popular vote	1,177,033	645,851	776,436
Percentage	23.09%	12.67%	15.23%
Swing	0.25pp	5.81pp	2.44pp

	Fourth party	Fifth party	Sixth party

Leader	Eduard Lasker	Rudolf von Bennigsen	Viktor I, Duke of Ratibor
Party	LV	NLP	DRP
Leader since	1877	1867
Last election	Did not exist	22.41%, 97 seats	13.64%, 57 seats
Seats won	48	45	27
Seat change	New party	52	30
Popular vote	450,166	617,752	382,149
Percentage	8.83%	12.12%	7.50%
Swing	New party	10.29pp	6.14pp

Map of results (by constituencies)

President of the Reichstag before election

Gustav von Goßler
DKP

President of the Reichstag after election

Albert von Levetzow
DKP

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v t e

Federal elections were held in Germany on 27 October 1881.^[1] The Centre Party became the largest party in the Reichstag, with 100 of the 397 seats, whilst the National Liberal Party, which had previously been the largest party, was reduced to 45 seats.^[2] Voter turnout was 56.3%.^[3]

Results


13 9 58 2 48 2 18 15 45 100 10 27 50
Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Centre Party	1,177,033	23.09	+0.25	100	+6
	German Conservative Party	776,436	15.23	+2.44	50	−9
	German Progress Party	645,851	12.67	+5.81	58	+32
	National Liberal Party	617,752	12.12	−10.29	45	−52
	Liberal Union	450,166	8.83	New	48	New
	German Reich Party	382,149	7.50	−6.14	27	−30
	Social Democratic Party	311,961	6.12	−1.47	13	+4
	Polish Party	200,734	3.94	+0.19	18	+4
	Alsace-Lorraine parties	156,707	3.07	−0.04	15	0
	German People's Party	103,665	2.03	+0.83	9	+6
	Independent liberals	92,539	1.82	+0.09	1	−6
	German-Hanoverian Party	86,704	1.70	−0.15	10	0
	Schauss-Völk group	22,238	0.44	New	1	New
	Independent conservatives	19,517	0.38	+0.21	0	0
	Christian Social Party	17,628	0.35	+0.29	0	0
	Danish Party	14,398	0.28	0.00	2	+1
	Independent anti-semites	7,255	0.14	New	0	New
Others		14,359	0.28	+0.10	0	0
Unknown		668	0.01	0.00	0	0
Total		5,097,760	100.00	–	397	0

Valid votes		5,097,760	99.60
Invalid/blank votes		20,572	0.40
Total votes		5,118,332	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		9,090,386	56.30
Source: Wahlen in Deutschland

Alsace-Lorraine


Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Protesters	100,321	61.18	+26.66	10	+4
	Clericals	34,396	20.98	−8.38	4	−1
	Autonomists	21,990	13.41	−10.28	1	−3
	National Liberal Party	3,186	1.94	New	0	New
	German Reich Party	1,265	0.77	−11.19	0	0
	German Conservative Party	872	0.53	+0.36	0	0
	Social Democratic Party	583	0.36	+0.29	0	0
	Independent liberals	255	0.16	New	0	New
Others		1,057	0.64	+0.41	0	0
Unknown		51	0.03	+0.03	0	0
Total		163,976	100.00	–	15	0

Valid votes		163,976	97.26
Invalid/blank votes		4,618	2.74
Total votes		168,594	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		311,001	54.21
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, p789
^ 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 Next
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