The presidential election (Reichspräsidentenwahl) of 1919 was the first election to the office of President of the Reich (Reichspräsident), Germany's head of state during the 1919-1933 Weimar Republic. The constitution that stipulated a direct popular vote was not completed before August 1919. Because a head of state was needed immediately the 1919 presidential election was held indirectly, by the National Assembly, on February 11, 1919. The winner was SPD chairman Friedrich Ebert, who beat former (Imperial) Secretary of the Interior Arthur von Posadowsky-Wehner by 277 to 49 votes. Ebert was supported by the SPD, the German Centre Party and the Germasn Democratic Party (DDP), the parties of the "Weimar coalition", which held about 75 per cent of the seats in the National Assembly.
German presidential elections
