The New Reichstag The result of the German General Election
has left the situation a little worse than it was before. The Govern- ment itself has, on the face of it, been decisively repu- diated, but with no Government Party before the electors that could hardly have been otherwise. To make the situation more unstable still, the most obvious coalition, that of the Nazis and the Centre, has secured too few seats (265 out of a total of 582) to give it the majority it enjoyed in the last Reichstag. Under those conditions the outlook is completely uncertain. Herr Hitler is using violent language about the Chancellor and the fall in the Nazi seats from 230 to 196, seeming to suggest that the expected turn in the National-Socialist tide has come, is as likely to fire his ardour as to damp it. But since the Reichstag is not likely to meet till early next month there is time for the situation to clarify, and with Herr von Papen declaring his readiness to stand aside it is still conceivable that some politician, perhaps the Nazi Herr Strasser ( for the President is unlikely to send for Hitler if he can help it), may be found capable of rallying a Parliamentary majority based on Nazis and Centre with the tacit support either of the Social Democrats or the Right. Every fresh dissolution of the Reichstag strengthens the Communists, who have this time returned a hundred members. That should be sufficient incentive to the constitutional parties to close their ranks.
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