1928 German federal election

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All 491 seats in the Reichstag
246 seats needed for a majorityRegistered41,224,678 (Increase 5.7%)Turnout75.6% (Decrease 3.2pp)

	First party	Second party	Third party
	SPD 1924 leadership.jpg	Kuno von Westarp.jpg	Reichskanzler Wilhelm Marx (cropped).jpg
Leader	Hermann Müller Otto Wels Arthur Crispien	Kuno von Westarp	Wilhelm Marx
Party	SPD	DNVP	Centre
Last election	26.0%, 131 seats	20.5%, 103 seats	13.6%, 69 seats
Seats won	153	73	61
Seat change	Increase 22	Decrease 30	Decrease 8
Popular vote	9,152,979	4,381,563	3,712,152
Percentage	29.8%	14.3%	12.1%
Swing	Increase 3.8 pp	Decrease 6.2 pp	Decrease 1.5 pp
	Fourth party	Fifth party	Sixth party
	Thälmann and Dengel.jpg	Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1989-040-27, Gustav Stresemann.jpg	Erich Koch-Weser circa 1920 (cropped).jpg
Leader	Ernst Thälmann & Philipp Dengel	Gustav Stresemann	Erich Koch-Weser
Party	KPD	DVP	DDP
Last election	8.9%, 45 seats	10.1%, 51 seats	6.3%, 32 seats
Seats won	54	45	25
Seat change	Increase 9	Decrease 6	Decrease 7
Popular vote	3,264,793	2,679,703	1,479,374
Percentage	10.6%	8.7%	4.8%
Swing	Increase 1.7 pp	Decrease 1.4 pp	Decrease 1.5 pp

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Federal elections were held in Germany on 20 May 1928 to elect the fourth Reichstag of the Weimar Republic.^{[1] [2] [3]}

The previous three and a half years had seen Germany governed by a series of conservative cabinets, variably including the radical nationalist German National People's Party (DNVP). The fourth Marx cabinet collapsed in February 1928 due to a dispute over education policy, with new elections called for May. The results were a defeat for the parties of the centre-right cabinet: the DNVP particularly suffered, falling to 14%, as did the conservative German People's Party (DVP) and German Democratic Party (DDP). The Catholic Centre Party saw a substantial decline in its support for the first time since 1920. The winners of the election were the parties of the left: the Social Democratic Party, in opposition since 1923, won 30% of the vote. The Communist Party also improved to 10.6%. Much of the bourgeois and conservative electorate turned to small splinter parties representing special interests, including the Economic Party, Landvolk Party, and Revaluation Party.^[3]

With a strong left-wing and the splintered right, there was little alternative to a government led by the SPD. Social Democrat Hermann Müller, who had previously served as Chancellor briefly in 1920, was charged with forming a new cabinet. The only viable majority was a Great Coalition stretching from the SPD to the DVP. Negotiations proved difficult: it took two weeks for the cabinet to be formed and sworn in, and only as a "cabinet of personalities" rather than a formal coalition, comprising ministers from the SPD, DVP, DDP, and Bavarian People's Party (BVP). The Centre sent only one minister, Theodor von Guérard, as a so-called "observer". It took until ten months later in April 1929 for a coalition agreement to be signed and the Centre to officially enter cabinet.^[3]

This second Müller cabinet was to be the final democratic government of the Weimar Republic. Its fall in March 1930 and marked the end of the parliamentary system and the beginning of the presidential cabinets.^[3]

The Reichstag was elected via party list proportional representation. For this purpose, the country was divided into 35 multi-member electoral districts. A party was entitled to a seat for every 60,000 votes won. This was calculated via a three-step process on the constituency level, an intermediary level which combined multiple constituencies, and finally nationwide, where all parties' excess votes were combined. In the third nationwide step, parties could not be awarded more seats than they had already won on the two lower constituency levels. Due to the fixed number of votes per seat, the size of the Reichstag fluctuated between elections based on the number of voters and turnout.^[4] The voting age was 20 years.^[5]

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
Social Democratic Party	9,152,979	29.76	+3.74	153	+22
German National People's Party	4,381,563	14.25	−6.24	73	−30
Centre Party	3,712,152	12.07	−1.53	61	−8
Communist Party of Germany	3,264,793	10.62	+1.68	54	+9
German People's Party	2,679,703	8.71	−1.36	45	−6
German Democratic Party	1,479,374	4.81	−1.53	25	−7
Reich Party of the German Middle Class	1,387,602	4.51	+2.22	23	+11
Bavarian People's Party	945,644	3.07	−0.67	17	−2
Nazi Party	810,127	2.63	−0.37	12	−2
Christian-National Peasants' and Farmers' Party	571,891	1.86	New	9	New
Reich Party for Civil Rights and Deflation	509,471	1.66	New	2	New
German Farmers' Party	481,254	1.56	New	8	New
Völkisch-National Bloc	266,370	0.87	New	0	New
Agricultural League	199,548	0.65	−1.00	3	−5
German-Hanoverian Party	195,555	0.64	−0.22	4	0
Saxon Peasants	127,700	0.42	New	2	New
Christian Social Reich Party	110,704	0.36	New	0	New
Left Communists	80,405	0.26	New	0	New
Old Social Democratic Party of Germany	65,775	0.21	New	0	New
Polish People's Party	64,753	0.21	−0.06	0	0
Evangelical Party of Germany	52,488	0.17	New	0	New
German Social Party	46,047	0.15	−0.38	0	0
General People's Party	37,373	0.12	New	0	New
German House and Property Owners' Party	35,846	0.12	New	0	New
Independent Social Democratic Party	20,815	0.07	−0.26	0	0
Evangelical Community Spirit	10,709	0.03	New	0	New
Christian National Middle Class Party	9,957	0.03	New	0	New
Pastor Greber Party	9,527	0.03	New	0	New
Revaluation and Construction Party	8,562	0.03	New	0	New
German Reich Bloc of the Injured	7,437	0.02	New	0	New
Reich Party for Crafts, Trade and Business	6,614	0.02	New	0	New
People's Welfare Party	6,071	0.02	New	0	New
Franconian Peasants	3,417	0.01	New	0	New
Wendish People's Party	3,111	0.01	−0.01	0	0
Party for Justice and Tenant Protection	2,831	0.01	New	0	New
Schleswig Club	2,435	0.01	−0.01	0	0
German Christian Folk Party	901	0.00	New	0	New
Vital Interests of the Unmarried	873	0.00	New	0	New
Masurian People's Party	295	0.00	New	0	New
Lithuanian People's Party	289	0.00	New	0	New
Friesland	286	0.00	New	0	New
Total		30,753,247	100.00	–	491	–2
Valid votes		30,753,247	98.68
Invalid/blank votes		412,542	1.32
Total votes		31,165,789	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		41,224,678	75.60
Source: Gonschior.de

• Members of the 4th German Reichstag (Weimar Republic)

• Childers, Thomas (1983). The Nazi Voter: The Social Foundations of Fascism in Germany, 1919-1933. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0807815705.
• Hamilton, Richard (1982). Who Voted for Hitler?. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691093954.
• Orlow, Dietrich (1969). The History of the Nazi Party: 1919-1933. University of Pittsburgh Press. SBN 822931834.
• Pollock, James (1928). "The German Elections of 1928". American Political Science Review . 22 (3). American Political Science Association: 698–705. doi:10.2307/1945624. JSTOR 1945624.