Yesterday was the day of the first ballots in the
German elections, and the results throughout the Empire will be known by to-morrow. The system is that only that candidate is elected by the first ballot who receives more than half the votes recorded for all the candidates together. Otherwise the two candidates who have received most votes submit them- selves a second time to the electorate. At the last Election two hundred and thirteen 'candidates were elected on the first ballot and a hundred and eighty-four on the second. The real struggle to determine which is the winning party takes place therefore at the second ballots, and the first may give a hint of the result but no assurance. Most of the constituencies have a large number of candidates, and it is not expected that there will be so many decisive results on the first ballots as in 1903. •
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