1898 German federal election

← 1893

16 June 1898 (1898-06-16)

1903 →

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

Registered

11,441,054

7.65%

Turnout

7,786,714 (68.06%)

4.41pp

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Franz von Ballestrem	Paul Singer & August Bebel	Otto von Manteuffel
Party	Centre	SPD	DKP
Last election	19.14%, 96 seats	23.28%, 44 seats	12.93%, 69 seats
Seats won	102	56	53
Seat change	6	12	16
Popular vote	1,454,042	2,107,076	830,341
Percentage	18.76%	27.18%	10.71%
Swing	0.38 pp	3.90 pp	2.22 pp

	Fourth party	Fifth party	Sixth party
			DRP
Leader	Ernst Bassermann [de]	Eugen Richter
Party	NlP	FVP	DRP
Last election	12.29%, 51 seats	8.67%, 24 seats	5.71%, 28 seats
Seats won	48	29	22
Seat change	3	5	6
Popular vote	997,147	558,314	337,601
Percentage	12.86%	7.20%	4.35%
Swing	0.57 pp	1.47 pp	1.36 pp

Map of results (by constituencies)

President of the Reichstag before election

Rudolf von Buol-Berenberg
Centre

President of the Reichstag after election

Franz von Ballestrem
Centre

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This article is part of a series on the

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Federal elections were held in Germany on 16 June 1898. Despite the Social Democratic Party (SPD) receiving the most votes, the Centre Party remained the largest party in the Reichstag after winning 102 of the 397 seats, whilst the SPD won just 56. Voter turnout was 68%.

Results


5682912411141148510296223531210
Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Social Democratic Party	2,107,076	27.18	+3.90	56	+12
	Centre Party	1,454,042	18.76	−0.38	102	+6
	National Liberal Party	997,147	12.86	+0.57	48	−3
	German Conservative Party	830,341	10.71	−2.22	53	−16
	Free-minded People's Party	558,314	7.20	−1.47	29	+5
	German Reich Party	337,601	4.35	−1.36	22	−6
	Social Reform Party	215,891	2.78	−0.51	10	−6
	Free-minded Union	195,682	2.52	−0.87	12	−1
	Independent Polish	169,037	2.18	−0.07	8	−6
	Bavarian Peasants' League	130,724	1.69	+1.13	4	+2
	Alsace-Lorraine parties	118,072	1.52	−0.25	11	+2
	German People's Party	106,396	1.37	−0.80	8	−3
	German-Hanoverian Party	105,161	1.36	+0.03	9	+2
	German Agrarian League	103,489	1.33	New	6	New
	Christian Social Party	48,914	0.63	−0.61	1	−1
	Polish Court Party	67,424	0.87	+0.17	6	+1
	Independent liberals	46,731	0.60	−0.13	3	+1
	Independent conservatives	28,846	0.37	−0.10	3	+1
	National-Social Group	27,208	0.35	New	0	New
	Independent anti-semites	22,989	0.30	+0.15	2	+2
	Alsatian liberals	16,887	0.22	+0.14	1	0
	Danish Party	15,439	0.20	+0.01	1	0
	Other agrarians	9,019	0.12	−0.22	1	0
	Lithuanian Party	8,142	0.11	+0.06	1	+1
	Polish People's Party	7,667	0.10	New	0	New
	Other conservatives	4,473	0.06	−0.19	0	−1
	Middle Class parties	3,162	0.04	New	0	New
	Alsace Liberal Group	2,132	0.03	New	0	New
Others		14,075	0.18	0.00	0	0
Unknown		612	0.01	+0.01	0	0
Total		7,752,693	100.00	–	397	0

Valid votes		7,752,693	99.56
Invalid/blank votes		34,021	0.44
Total votes		7,786,714	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		11,441,054	68.06
Source: Wahlen in Deutschland

Alsace-Lorraine


Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Alsace-Lorraine Land Party	67,171	29.34	New	6	New
	Social Democratic Party	51,990	22.71	+3.41	1	−1
	Lorraine independent conservatives	25,658	11.21	+7.07	3	+2
	Alsatian Liberals	16,887	7.38	+4.68	1	0
	Clericals	14,125	6.17	−30.93	1	−5
	Independent conservatives	13,483	5.89	+0.16	1	0
	German Reich Party	9,381	4.10	−1.96	1	0
	Alsace-Lorraine protesters	6,237	2.72	−1.86	1	0
	Alsatian autonomists	4,881	2.13	−2.76	0	0
	National Liberal Party	8,144	3.56	+0.90	0	0
	Independent liberals	6,900	3.01	+1.29	0	0
	Alsace Liberal Group	2,132	0.93	New	0	New
	German Social Party	860	0.38	−1.04	0	0
	Free-minded Union	321	0.14	New	0	New
Others		743	0.32	+0.18	0	0
Total		228,913	100.00	–	15	0

Valid votes		228,913	97.95
Invalid/blank votes		4,783	2.05
Total votes		233,696	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		233,696	100.00
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, p774

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 2025
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

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