THE GERMAN ELECTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18887, 9 December 1924, Page 8

THE GERMAN ELECTIONS.

Although the complete returns are not available, it is apparent that the elections in Germany have resulted in a new situation. The elections in May last were indecisive. The main issue was the Dawes report, and, although the large number of parties meant a clouding of that issue somewhat, quite half the nation must be regarded as having voted for the report's rejection. At all events, the chance of securing a combination of parties strong enough to carry out the terms of the report was too slight to ensure a stable Government. Those terms required several constitutional changes, which could not be made without a two-thirds majority in a two-thirds House; and, although the Government could expect the combined support of various parties for ordinary legislation, it could not count on that two-thirds majority for this special purpose without the grace of some opponents. The Government decided to carry on, its reliance being placed upon a combination of the Centre Party, of which the Chancellor, Dr. Marx, was the head, the People's Party, led by Strescmann, and the Democrats, But it sought to strengthen its position by widening the coalition, only to find itself on the horns of a dilemma; cither it had to take in Nationalists from the Eight or Socialists from the Left. To take in Nationalists meant dropping the support of the Democrats, and to include Socialists would alienate the moderates among the Government's supporters, who had some time before forced Socialist Ministers out of the Cabinet. The inevitable climax came in October, the Chancellor, with the agreement of his entire Cabinet, requesting President Ebert to dissolve the Reichstag. In thi3 way it was hoped to throw upon the whole electorate the- responsibility of creating an effect iv ■. majority in tho House for all purposes. The news to hand, while giving a practical assurance of a majority for the Dawes report, reveals a marked tendency toward a new adjustment of the strength of parties. The three parties sup-

porting the Government are losing heavily,, while the Socialists are gaining, at the expense of the Government's supporters and also their own particular rivals, the Nationalists. Another significant result is the virtual extinction of the militarist group led by Ludendorff, who gathered a considerable following in the Reichstag elected in May Defying the hostility aroused against him at the termination of the war, he came again into politics with "rush' tactics, succeeding amazingly. But the present elections prove his success to have been but a flash in the pan. Much has been made of the hope that the elections! would mean a restoration of monarchy, either by sudden or gradual means ; but the losses of the militarists and extreme Nationalists, taken in conjunction with the Socialists' gains, suggest that the republic's persistence is not likely to be challenged seriously.