country with low population growth. Election of deputies Unlike in the primary elections, the classes played no role in the election of deputies. If several deputies were to be elected, a separate vote was held for each seat. An absolute majority of votes was required for election. If this was not achieved, a runoff took place. Until 1903 all candidates who received more than one vote on the first ballot were allowed to participate in the second ballot. In each subsequent ballot, the candidate with the fewest votes was eliminated. If there was a tie between the two remaining candidates, the decision was made by drawing lots. Beginning in 1903, a runoff election of the two candidates with the most votes was held immediately, as in the primary elections. If two candidates each received exactly half of the votes on the first ballot, the decision was made by lot from 1906 onward; until then, a runoff also took place in such a case. In order to streamline the rather time-consuming election of deputies, from 1903 the electors cast their votes at one time if more than one deputy was to be elected, i.e. they had to indicate who they wanted to vote for the first, second and, if applicable, third seat. More than 90% of the deputies were elected on the first ballot. Effects The electoral procedure combined with the use of classes in the constituencies strongly favored conservatives. In 1913 the German Conservative Party received 14.8% of the primary electorate votes but won 149 of the 443 seats (33.6%) in the Prussian House of Representatives; the Free Conservative Party won 53 seats (12%) with only 2% of the primary electorate votes. The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) on the other hand won only 10 seats (2.3%) in 1913 with 28.4% of the voters. Measured in terms of share of the vote, the Centre Party, National Liberal Party and parties of the liberal left tended to be favored by the electoral law, although by no means to the same extent as the conservatives. Voting by party was recorded statistically in elections only from 1898 onward and was determined by the electoral officer entering the presumed political orientation of each person who received a vote in the primary election. Because of this, vote shares are only approximations. It should also be noted that the discrepancy between vote shares and mandate