1890 German federal election

Common card · No. 444365

A federal election for the eighth Reichstag of the German Empire was held on 20 February 1890. It was an early election called after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck requested that the Reichstag elected in February 1887 be dissolved because it had refused to extend the Anti-Socialist Laws. He thought that a newly elected Reichstag would be more likely to pass the bill, but the parties that supported him – the German Conservative Party, German Reich Party and National Liberals, known as the Cartel parties – lost 91 seats and their majority in parliament. The Centre Party regained its position as the largest party, winning 107 of the 397 seats and 18.6% of the vote, while the National Liberal Party, formerly the largest party, was reduced to 38 seats. The Social Democratic Party won the most votes with 19.8%, but that translated to only 35 seats due to the lack of redistricting and the first-past-the-post voting system. Voter turnout was 71.5%. The 1890 Reichstag was the first to be elected...

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