1921 Prussian state election

State elections were held in the Free State of Prussia on 20 February 1921 to elect 406 of the 428 members of the Landtag of Prussia.^[1] The governing coalition of the Social Democratic Party, Centre Party, and German Democratic Party suffered major losses, losing one-third of its collective voteshare from 1919, but retained a narrow majority. The right-liberal German People's Party (DVP) and reactionary nationalist German National People's Party (DNVP) made the largest gains, with the DNVP becoming the second largest party by voteshare. The Communist Party of Germany contested its first Prussian election, winning 31 seats.

1921 Prussian state election

← 1919 20 February 1921 1924 →
406 of the 428 seats in the Landtag of Prussia 215 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	77.4% ( 2.6pp)
Party Vote % Seats +/– Social Democratic Party 26.3% 114 −31 German National People's Party 18.1% 75 +27 Centre Party 17.2% 81 −12 German People's Party 14.2% 58 +35 Communist Party of Germany 7.4% 31 New Independent Social Democratic Party 6.6% 28 +4 German Democratic Party 6.2% 26 −39 German-Hanoverian Party 2.7% 11 +9 Economic Party 1.2% 4 New This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Results by electoral constituency Government before Government after First Braun cabinet SPD–Z–DDP Stegerwald cabinet Z–DDP

No election was held on the constituency of Oppeln due to the Upper Silesia plebiscite, which was held one month after the state elections. The delegation of 22 deputies which had been elected in Oppeln in 1919 continued in office until a 1922 by-election.^[2] The discrepancy between these results meant that the Centre Party held more seats in the Landtag than the DNVP after the 1921 election, despite winning fewer votes.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Swing	Seats	+/–
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	4,295,305	26.26	–10.12	114	–31
	German National People's Party (DNVP)	2,957,784	18.08	+6.86	75	+27
	Centre Party (Zentrum)	2,819,989	17.24	–4.98	81	–12
	German People's Party (DVP)	2,319,281	14.18	+8.49	58	+35
	United Communist Party of Germany (VKPD)	1,211,749	7.41	New	31[a]	New
	Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD)	1,076,498	6.58	–0.84	28	+4
	German Democratic Party (DDP) German Democratic Party (DDP) Landbund	1,013,239 976,032 37,207	6.19 5.97 0.23	–10.01 –10.23 New	26 26 0	–39 –39 New
	German-Hanoverian Party and Schleswig-Holstein State Party German-Hanoverian Party (DHP) Schleswig-Holstein State Party (SHLP) United Lower Saxon State Party Landeskultur	438,548 410,312 27,907 227 102	2.68 2.51 0.17 0.00 0.00	+2.19 +2.02 –0.19 New New	11 11 0 0 0	+8 +9 –1 New New
	Economic Party of the German Middle Classes (WP)	192,780	1.18	New	4	New
	Christian People's Party (CVP)	14,140	0.09	New	0	New
	Polish Party	12,081	0.07	New	0	New
	Schleswiger Association	4,720	0.03	New	0	New
	Christian Social People's Party	982	0.01	New	0	New
	Factionless Party Factionless Party List of Merchants and Wandering Tradesmen	934 906 28	0.01 0.01 0.00	New New New	0 0 0	New New New
	Non-partisan	54	0.00	New	0	New
Invalid/blank votes		212,987	1.29	–	–	–
Total		16,357,755	100	–	428	+27
Registered voters/turnout		21,410,148	77.40	+2.61	–	–
Gonschior.de

No election took place in constituency #9 (Oppeln); for this purpose, members of this constituency elected in the 1919 election retained their seats.

Popular Vote SPD   26.26% DNVP   18.08% Zentrum   17.24% DVP   14.18% VKPD   7.41% USPD   6.58% DDP   6.19% DHP   2.68% WP   1.18% Other   0.20%

Landtag seats SPD   26.64% Zentrum   18.93% DNVP   17.52% DVP   13.55% VKPD   7.24% USPD   6.54% DDP   6.07% DHP   2.57% WP   0.93%

Results by constituency

Constituency	SPD	DNVP	Z	DVP	VKPD	USPD	DDP	DHP	WP
1. East Prussia	24.0	31.0	9.6	14.7	7.0	5.7	5.7	–	1.0
2. Berlin	22.7	17.4	3.9	12.5	11.6	20.3	6.8	–	4.8
3. Potsdam II	21.6	20.4	3.0	19.8	7.2	13.3	9.6	–	5.1
4. Potsdam I	27.3	23.8	2.0	16.3	8.3	12.4	6.3	–	3.6
5. Frankfurt an der Oder	31.9	32.3	6.1	13.0	2.8	6.2	6.5	–	1.3
6. Pomerania	29.4	42.5	0.7	14.1	3.3	4.7	3.3	–	2.1
7. Breslau	39.9	21.5	19.6	8.4	2.5	0.9	5.6	–	1.6
8. Liegnitz	39.7	22.8	8.8	11.8	2.6	1.9	9.4	–	3.0
9. Oppeln	[b]
10. Magdeburg	41.3	18.1	1.8	15.5	3.9	7.6	11.4	–	0.4
11. Merseburg	10.6	22.9	1.2	14.4	29.8	11.3	9.9	–	–
12. Erfurt	11.0	11.6	14.3	14.3	11.1	17.8	6.9	–	–
13. Schleswig-Holstein	37.1	20.9	0.8	18.2	6.0	3.2	8.8	–	–
14. Weser-Ems	19.1	8.5	[c]	17.8	2.4	5.3	9.2	37.6	–
15. Hanover East	32.5	9.6		14.4	3.8	4.1	4.6	31.1	–
16. Hanover South	40.8	7.7		18.7	3.5	2.1	4.6	22.7	–
17. Westphalia North	22.2	10.2	45.5	10.6	5.5	2.6	3.4	–	–
18. Westphalia South	25.0	8.1	29.4	15.6	9.5	7.3	5.1	–	–
19. Hesse-Nassau	31.7	15.9	17.8	16.6	4.2	4.2	8.7	–	0.8
20. Köln-Aachen	19.4	5.8	55.6	9.2	5.4	1.0	3.6	–	–
21. Koblenz-Trier	11.5	5.5	63.7	11.2	2.3	0.5	2.8	–	–
22. Düsseldorf East	14.5	14.1	26.9	14.1	16.6	9.2	4.7	–	–
23. Düsseldorf West	14.3	8.0	47.1	13.5	10.0	3.8	3.2	–	–

1922 Oppeln by-election

Party		Votes	%	Seats[d]	+/–[d]
	Centre Party (Zentrum)	207,503	38.11	76	–5
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	80,861	14.85	109	–5
	German National People's Party (DNVP)	79,312	14.57	76	+1
	Polish Party	51,638	9.48	2	+2
	German People's Party (DVP)	42,329	7.77	59	+1
	United Communist Party of Germany (VKPD)	41,597	7.64	31	0
	German Social Party (DSP)	22,981	4.22	0	New
	German Democratic Party (DDP)	15,152	2.78	26	0
	Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD)	1,188	0.22	27	–1
	Economic Party (WP)	915	0.17	4	0
	German-Hanoverian Party and Schleswig-Holstein State Party German-Hanoverian Party (DHP) Schleswig-Holstein State Party (SHLP)	532 401 131	0.10 0.07 0.02	11 11 0	0 0 0
	Upper Silesian Catholic People's Party	246	0.05	0	New
	Schleswiger Association	134	0.02	0	0
	Christian People's Party (CVP)	36	0.01	0	0
	Christian Social People's Party	30	0.01	0	0
	Factionless Party	1	0.00	0	0
Invalid/blank votes		19,268	0.16	–	–
Total		544,455	100	421	–7
Registered voters/turnout		834,805	65.22	–	–
Gonschior.de

Popular Vote Zentrum   38.11% SPD   14.85% DNVP   14.57% Polish   9.48% DVP   7.77% VKPD   7.64% Other   7.58%

See also

• Elections in the Free State of Prussia
• Weimar Republic

Notes

1. Including one member who was elected for the USPD in the constituency of Upper Silesia in 1919, but by 1921 had changed party affiliation to the VKPD.
2. Due to the Upper Silesia plebiscite, no election was held in Oppeln.
3. Zentrum ran in a joint list with the DHP in constituencies #14 (Weser-Ems), #15 (Hanover East), and #16 (Hanover South).
4. Seat tally and seat change correspond to total representation in Landtag. The results of the by-election were combined with the earlier Landtag election, and the seats up for election in Oppeln were distributed to create overall proportionality.