Reichstag (Weimar Republic)
The Reichstag of the Weimar Republic was the lower house of Germany's parliament; the upper house was the Reichsrat, which represented the states. The Reichstag convened for the first time on 24 June 1920, taking over from the Weimar National Assembly, which had served as an interim parliament following the collapse of the German Empire in November 1918.
Under the Weimar Constitution of 1919, the Reichstag was elected every four years by universal, equal, secret and direct suffrage, using a system of party-list proportional representation. All citizens who had reached the age of 20 were allowed to vote, including women for the first time, but excluding soldiers on active duty. The Reichstag voted on the laws of the Reich and was responsible for the budget, questions of war and peace, and confirmation of state treaties. Oversight of the Reich government also resided with the Reichstag. It could force individual ministers or the entire government to resign by means of a vote of no confidence, and under Article 48 of the constitution it could rescind emergency decrees issued by the Reich president. The Reich president could dissolve the Reichstag under Article 25 of the constitution, but only once for the same reason.
The Reichstag as a free and democratic institution ceased to exist following the passage of the Enabling Act of 1933 which granted Chancellor Adolf Hitler the power to draft and enforce laws as he pleased.
Responsibilities
The main rights, duties and responsibilities of the Reichstag were defined in the Weimar Constitution..- The Reichstag voted on proposed laws of the Reich, including budget laws.
- It raised extraordinary loans and handled petitions.
- It declared war and made peace. Alliances and treaties with foreign states required Reichstag approval if they related to subjects of Reich legislation.
- The enactment of a law could be suspended for two months if one-third of the Reichstag voted to do so. The majority could, in turn, declare it urgent, following which the Reich president could enact the law regardless of the request for suspension.
- The Reichstag had the right of self-government; it created its own rules of procedure.
- The Reichstag could interrupt the order of the day by demanding an explanation from the minister concerned and address minor questions and written requests for information to the Reich government.
- The Reichstag and its committees could demand the presence of any cabinet member.
- The minister of finance was required to give an of account of the use of Reich revenues to the Reichstag.
- The Reichstag could force the resignation of the government through a vote of no confidence.
- It could bring charges against the chancellor, the ministers or the Reich president for culpably violating the constitution or a Reich law.
- The Reich president could be removed from office by a popular referendum upon a resolution approved by a two-thirds majority of the Reichstag.
- The Reichstag could suspend emergency measures taken by the Reich president and could establish committees of inquiry.
- It formed a standing committee to exercise the rights of the people's representatives with respect to the Reich government for periods when the Reichstag was not in session and after the end of an electoral term. The committee had the rights of a committee of inquiry.
- It formed a permanent, non-public committee on foreign affairs, also with the rights of a committee of inquiry.
- A tribunal to examine election returns was formed from members of the Reichstag and from judges of the Reich Administrative Court .
Electoral system
Eligible voters and voting procedures
In the election to the Weimar National Assembly, the group of eligible voters expanded considerably, from 14,441,400 in 1912 to 37,362,100 in 1919, primarily because women had been given the right to vote and the voting age was lowered from 25 to 20. Those who could not exercise the right to vote were active duty soldiers, people living in a sanatorium or nursing home and those in criminal or pre-trial detention. Citizenship had to have been obtained at least one year before election day. The election date was set by the Reich president. After November 1918 it had to be a Sunday or a public holiday, in accordance with a long-standing social democratic demand.The Reich was divided into 35 electoral districts that were combined into 16 electoral associations. The parties drew up a list of candidates for each electoral district in which they were participating and also a list of candidates at the Reich level.
A district received one seat for every 60,000 votes cast for a list, with the first 60,000 votes going to the first candidate on the list, the second 60,000 to the second candidate, and so on. Residual votes were transferred to the level of the electoral association. There, the remaining votes from the districts making up the association were added together; for a full 60,000 votes, there was one seat from the district list that had contributed the most residual votes. Any additional remaining votes were carried over to the national level where a party again received one seat per 60,000 votes.
A number of additional rules were added to this basic procedure. The most important was that a party could win seats only if it had received 30,000 or more votes in at least one district. Furthermore, a national list could deliver only as many seats as the party had already received in total at the lower levels. These provisions disadvantaged small parties without a regional focus. They nevertheless also resulted in a large number of parties being represented in the Reichstag. Beyond the 30,000 vote hurdle there was no minimum threshold for a party to enter the Reichstag.
List of constituencies
The following is a list of constituencies as they existed from 1924 onwards.| Number | Name | Boundaries | Constituency association |
| 1 | East Prussia | Province of East Prussia | I |
| 2 | Berlin | Berlin boroughs of Kreuzberg, Wedding, Friedrichshain, Prenzlauer Berg, Tiergarten, and Mitte | II |
| 3 | Potsdam II | Districts of Teltow and Beeskow-Storkow, Berlin boroughs of Zehlendorf, Charlottenburg, Wilmersdorf, Schöneberg, Steglitz, Tempelhof, Neukölln, Treptow, and Köpenick | II |
| 4 | Potsdam I | Regierungsbezirk of Potsdam without the districts of Teltow and Beeskow-Storkow, Berlin boroughs of Spandau, Reinickendorf, Pankow, Weißensee, and Lichtenberg | III |
| 5 | Frankfurt an der Oder | Regierungsbezirk of Frankfurt, Province of Posen–West Prussia | III |
| 6 | Pomerania | Province of Pomerania | IV |
| 7 | Breslau | Regierungsbezirk of Breslau | V |
| 8 | Liegnitz | Regierungsbezirk of Liegnitz | V |
| 9 | Oppeln | Province of Upper Silesia | V |
| 10 | Magdeburg | Regierungsbezirk of Magdeburg, Free State of Anhalt | VI |
| 11 | Merseburg | Regierungsbezirk of Merseburg | VI |
| 12 | Thuringia | State of Thuringia, Regierungsbezirk of Erfurt, district of Schmalkalden | VI |
| 13 | Schleswig-Holstein | Province of Schleswig-Holstein, Landesteil of Lübeck | VII |
| 14 | Weser-Ems | Regierungsbezirke of Aurich and Osnabrück, Free State of Oldenburg without the Landesteile of Lübeck and Birkenfeld, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen | VIII |
| 15 | East Hanover | Regierungsbezirke of Stade and Lüneburg | VIII |
| 16 | South Hanover–Braunschweig | Regierungsbezirke of Hanover and Hildesheim, Free State of Brunswick | VIII |
| 17 | Westphalia North | Regierungsbezirke of Münster and Minden, Free State of Lippe, Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe, district of Schaumburg | IX |
| 18 | Westphalia South | Regierungsbezirk of Arnsberg | IX |
| 19 | Hesse-Nassau | Province of Hesse-Nassau without the districts of Schmalkalden and Schaumburg, district of Wetzlar, Free State of Waldeck | X |
| 20 | Cologne–Aachen | Regierungsbezirke of Cologne and Aachen | XI |
| 21 | Koblenz–Trier | Regierungsbezirk of Koblenz without the district of Wetzlar, Regierungsbezirk of Trier, Landesteile of Birkenfeld | XI |
| 22 | Düsseldorf East | City of Essen, District of Essen, City of Düsseldorf, District of Düsseldorf, City of Elberfeld, City of Barmen, District of Mettmann, City of Remscheid, District of Lennep, City of Solingen, District of Solingen | XII |
| 23 | Düsseldorf West | District of Cleve, District of Rees, City of Crefeld, District of Crefeld, City of Duisburg, City of Oberhausen, City of Mülheim, City of Hamborn, City of Sterkrade, District of Dinslaken, District of Mörs, District of Geldern, District of Kempen, City of Neuß, District of Neuß, District of Grevenbroich, City of München-Gladbach, City of Rheydt, District of Gladbach | XII |
| 24 | Upper Bavaria–Swabia | Regierungsbezirke of Upper Bavaria and Swabia | XIII |
| 25 | Lower Bavaria–Upper Palatinate | Regierungsbezirke of Lower Bavaria and Upper Palatinate | XIII |
| 26 | Franconia | Regierungsbezirke of Middle Franconia, Upper Franconia, and Lower Franconia | XIV |
| 27 | Palatinate | Regierungsbezirk of Palatinate | XIV |
| 28 | Dresden–Bautzen | Kreishauptmannschaften of Dresden and Bautzen | XV |
| 29 | Leipzig | Kreishauptmannschaft of Leipzig | XV |
| 30 | Chemnitz–Zwickau | Kreishauptmannschaften of Chemnitz and Zwickau | XV |
| 31 | Württemberg | Free People's State of Württemberg, Regierungsbezirk of Sigmaringen | XVI |
| 32 | Baden | Republic of Baden | XVI |
| 33 | Hesse-Darmstadt | People's State of Hesse | X |
| 34 | Hamburg | Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg | VII |
| 35 | Mecklenburg | Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Free State of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Free and Hanseatic City of Lübeck | IV |