https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_1932_German_federal_electionThe National Socialist German Workers' Party, aka the Nazi Party, became the largest party in the Reichstag and won a plurality of the popular vote for the first time in July 1932, winning a whopping 37.3% of the popular vote and 230 seats out of 608 seats. Additionally, this election was almost entirely free and fair (it was only in elections after July 1932 where widespread voter intimidation took place) and saw an enormous 84.1% turnout!
For context, "election turnout for the past three decades in Germany has been consistently at 70%-80%. No party since the reunification of Germany has ever gotten more than 44% of the popular vote and most have not gotten anywhere near the Nazi Party's 37.3% in what was the second to last free and fair election in 1930's Germany. NONE of the German elections in the past 30 years have had higher turnout than the first one where the Nazis won a plurality in 1932 (84.1%!)."
Adenauer, Erhard, Kiesinger, Brandt, Schmidt, Kohl, and Merkel all became Chancellors by being the head of a political party with a plurality AND by being elected by a majority of the Parliament. Though Hitler headed a party with a plurality, and his party's plurality was larger than many other German Chancellors, he was never elected by a majority of Reichstag members. Instead, he was appointed Chancellor by Hindenburg. Hitler did run for president, and did surprisingly well, but still lost to Hindenburg:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1932_German_presidential_electionTherefore, many believe that it would be incorrect to call Hitler "democratically elected." What do you think?
In my opinion, it would be somewhat incorrect to call Hitler "democratically elected," but it would be completely accurate to call the Nazi Party "democratically elected." The Nazi Party won a much higher percentage of the vote with much higher turnout than the CDU has ever won in the past few elections, and the CDU is universally considered to be a "democratically elected" party. The July 1932 election was free and fair, with the Nazis commanding a large plurality and right-wing parties forming a majority in the Reichstag. On the other hand, Hitler himself was probably not really "democratically elected" since unlike other German Chancellors, he was appointed as head of state, not elected by a majority of parliament members. However, his appointment was largely based on the widespread, democratic popularity of the political party in which he was head.
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