The Reichstag convened for the first time on 24 June 1920, taking over from the Weimar National Assembly, which had served as an interim parliament following the collapse of the German Empire in November 1918.

Under the Weimar Constitution of 1919, the Reichstag was elected every four years by universal, equal, secret and direct suffrage, using a system of party-list proportional representation.

All citizens who had reached the age of 20 were allowed to vote, including women for the first time, but excluding soldiers on active duty.

[1] The Reichstag voted on the laws of the Reich and was responsible for the budget, questions of war and peace, and confirmation of state treaties.

It could force individual ministers or the entire government to resign by means of a vote of no confidence, and under Article 48 of the constitution[2] it could rescind emergency decrees issued by the Reich president.

[2] The Reichstag as a free and democratic institution ceased to exist following the passage of the Enabling Act of 1933 which granted Chancellor Adolf Hitler the power to draft and enforce laws as he pleased.

Those who could not exercise the right to vote were active duty soldiers, people living in a sanatorium or nursing home and those in criminal or pre-trial detention.

After November 1918 it had to be a Sunday or a public holiday, in accordance with a long-standing social democratic demand.

According to parliamentary custom, a representative of the strongest party in the Reichstag was usually elected president.

In 1933 the National Socialists used the two constitutional articles, along with the ability to transfer the legislative function from the Reichstag to the government through an Enabling Act, to establish a dictatorship.