1990 East German general election

A general election was held in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) on 18 March 1990. It was the only free and fair parliamentary election in the history of the GDR, and the first free and fair election held in that part of Germany since November 1932. Four hundred deputies were elected to the People's Chamber (Volkskammer).

1990 East German general election

18 March 1990 (1990-03-18)
All 400 seats in the Volkskammer 201 seats were needed for a majority
Registered	12,426,443
Turnout	11,541,155 (93.4%)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Lothar de Maizière Ibrahim Böhme Hans Modrow Party CDU SPD PDS Seats won 163 88 66 Popular vote 4,710,598 2,525,534 1,892,381 Percentage 40.8% 21.9% 16.4%
Results of the election by district.
Prime Minister before election Hans Modrow PDS Elected Prime Minister Lothar de Maizière CDU

The largest bloc was the Alliance for Germany, led by the East German branch of the Christian Democratic Union, which ran on a platform of speedy reunification with the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany). The East German branch of the Social Democratic Party, which had been dissolved in 1946 and refounded only six months before the election, was the runner up. The former Socialist Unity Party of Germany, renamed the Party of Democratic Socialism, ran in a free election for the first time ever and finished in third place.

The Alliance came up just short of the 201 seats needed to govern alone.[1] Lothar de Maizière of the CDU invited the SPD to join his Alliance partners – the German Social Union (DSU) and Democratic Awakening (DA) – in a grand coalition. The SPD was initially cool to de Maizière's offer, in part because of the presence of the DSU in de Maizière's grouping; the SPD had originally been willing to govern alongside all parties other than the PDS and DSU.[2] However, they ultimately agreed. The government, which was able to amend the constitution thanks to its a two-thirds majority, subsequently organised and ratified the reunification of Germany, resulting in the dissolution of the German Democratic Republic on 3 October 1990.

Background

Main article: Peaceful Revolution

The Peaceful Revolution of 1989 resulted in the Socialist Unity Party of Germany giving up its monopoly on power, and permitting opposition parties to operate for the first time. They began to form in large numbers throughout November and December 1989. Opposition groups formed the East German Round Table, which was joined by representatives of the SED to negotiate reforms; at its first meeting on 7 December 1989, the Round Table agreed that free elections to the People's Chamber would be held on 6 May 1990.[3]

Electoral system

On 20 February 1990, the People's Chamber passed a new electoral law. 400 deputies would be elected to the parliament. The electoral system was party-list proportional representation with no electoral threshold. Joint lists between parties were allowed, and a number of parties formed alliances for the election, including the Association of Free Democrats, Alliance 90, and an alliance between the Green Party and Independent Women's Association. Seats were calculated nationally using the largest remainder method, and distributed in multi-member constituencies corresponding to the fifteen Bezirke.[4]

Election campaign

The election campaign was short and presented the parties with major organizational challenges. The election, originally scheduled for May, was brought forward to March 18 after negotiations between representatives of the Round Table and government of Hans Modrow on 28 January. This meant that the campaign was only seven weeks long.

Only the PDS had party machinery immediately operational as well as the extensive financial resources required for a full-scale campaign. The newly founded parties and groups, by contrast, were often still entangled in debates about their platform and only had minimal operational infrastructure. Civil rights activists had managed to secure offices in many places; thus, both the new groups and old parties were often lacking less in physical infrastructure and more in political and campaign experience. This gap was closed through a massive commitment by the Western parties, which supported their partner parties in the GDR, and were thus able to compensate for the organizational advantage held by the PDS.[5] The CDU, for example, formed "district partnerships": each Eastern CDU district association was supported by a Western CDU district association. Many Western party members took vacations to the East to aid their party in the campaign.

Ahead of the election, the Bavarian Christian Social Union in West Germany allied itself with the Eastern German Social Union. The Free Democratic Party endorsed the hastily-assembled Association of Free Democrats, which included the Liberal Democratic Party of Germany (LDPD) and the minor Free Democratic Party of the GDR. The Alliance for Germany, which included the CDU, DSU, and Democratic Awakening (DA), was also created as an emergency solution. These two alliances, forged six weeks before the election, had to organize their election campaigns in an extremely short time.[6]

The SPD appeared to have favourable starting conditions. As a newly-founded party, it had no ties to the SED, but a high profile and ample resources thanks to its Western counterpart. Most of East Germany's territory had also been a stronghold of the SPD during the Weimar Republic. Meanwhile, the CDU was deprived of a natural base by the lack of any significant Catholic population in the country, with the sole exception of Eichsfeld on the Thuringian border. Additionally, several older parties, including the CDU, LDPD, and NDPD, were former "block parties" which were subordinate to the SED until 1989. This association created considerable doubt about their ability to credibly portray themselves as parties of change. Election forecasts predicted a clear victory for the Social Democrats: in a survey published at the beginning of February, the SPD was favoured by 54 percent of voters, followed by the PDS with 12 percent and the CDU with 11 percent.[5]

Oskar Lafontaine, who had been elected as the Western SPD's Chancellor candidate for the next federal election, was sceptical about reunification and pessimistic about the SPD's chances of victory in either country. At the SPD's party conference in Berlin in December 1989, he warned of "national drunkenness" reunification could inspire, and described membership of a united Germany in NATO as "historical nonsense". Meanwhile, West German CDU leader and Chancellor Helmut Kohl made unification the primary goal for his party in both the East and West. To promote this position, almost 400 events were held during the campaign featuring around 80 top politicians from the CDU and CSU; the Alliance for Germany held around 1,400 election events in total. At one such event on 20 February 1990 in Erfurt, 150,000 people gathered to see Kohl; 200,000 attended when he spoke in Chemnitz.[7]

Three days before the election, the lead candidate of Democratic Awakening, Wolfgang Schnur, was exposed as a Stasi collaborator by Der Spiegel.

Party programs

The Alliance for Germany presented its election program under the title "Never again socialism" („Nie wieder Sozialismus“). Its key points included German reunification using the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany as an all-German constitution, the establishment of rights to private property and unrestricted freedom of trade, the abolition of all barriers to access for investors from the West, and the immediate introduction of the Deutsche Mark with an exchange rate of 1:1 to the East German mark. It also promised the establishment of a social security network, an environmental program, and secure energy supply, and the harmonisation of law with the Federal Republic; in particular the abolition of criminal offences related to political activity. Other points were the promotion of monument protection, education reform, the preservation of day nurseries, the re-establishment of the federal states (Länder) and freedom of the press.[8]

At the first party conference of the revived SPD, held in Leipzig from 22 to 25 February 1990, the basic party program was adopted, as was its election program. The core was the demand for an ecologically-oriented social market economy.[9]

The PDS election program was entitled "Democratic Freedom for All - Social Security for Everyone". The PDS described itself as a left-wing/socialist party campaigning for a humane working world, and striving for a socially and ecologically-oriented market economy that pursues social security for all, especially the socially disadvantaged, based on merit. In addition, it demanded radical disarmament in both the East and West, solidarity between people, and responsible management of nature. It stated that the GDR's social values and achievements should be preserved, stating these to include the right to work, the system of children's institutions, the involvement of cooperative and public property in the economy, and anti-fascism and internationalism. Central to its platform were demands to maintain the status quo with regard to the continued employment of the former SED members and land reform undertaken by the SED. Instead of unification with the West, the PDS advocated the creation of a confederal structure between the two countries while preserving statehood, and sought a gradual transition to a neutral and demilitarized German confederation within the framework of European unity.[10]

Criticism

There was criticism of the preparations for the elections and the environment in which they took place. Writer Michael Schneider criticised what he saw as massive interference by Western politicians in the GDR election campaign, which he characterised as dominated by Western personalities and party volunteers, and funded partly by taxpayer money from the West.[11]

Civil rights activist and founding member of the New Forum, Jens Reich, raised similar concerns. In 2009, 20 years after the Peaceful Revolution, he commented on the development of democracy in the GDR: "The Bonn hippopotamus came in such a mass that you were simply helpless. The entire apparatus of the West was simply brought to the East in the election campaign. We had nothing to oppose. These were western elections exported to the GDR."[12]

Opinion polling

Firm	Date	Sample	Abs.	CDU	DSU	DA	SPD	PDS	LDPD	FDP	NDPD	B90	Grüne	DBD	VL	Und.	Lead
Election result	18 March 1990	N/A	6.6	40.8	6.3	0.9	21.9	16.4	5.3		0.4	2.9	2.0	2.2	0.2	–	18.9
Infratest[13]	12 March 1990	?	–	20	5	1	44	10	2	2	–	1	1	3	–	–	24
Central Institute for Youth Research Leipzig	8 March 1990	"almost 1,200"	16	21	7	2	34	17	4	2	1	2[lower-alpha 1]	3	3	–	–	13
Society for Social Research and Statistical Analysis	2 March 1990	984	9	24			53	11	3			–	3	3	–	–	29
Central Institute for Youth Research Leipzig	6 February 1990	1,000	–	11	–	–	54	12	4	–	–	3[lower-alpha 2]	–	–	–	–	44
Academy of Social Sciences	30–31 December 1989	?	7.3	7.9	–	2.0	5.4	34	2.6	–	2.0	5.8[lower-alpha 3]	1.0	1.6	0.7	28.2	26.1
Stern[14]	17–19 November 1989	?	–	12	–	–	10	14	15			22[lower-alpha 4]		–	–	24	7

Results

Maps showing the distribution of party votes per district.
The map in the bottom right shows the largest party in each district.

Distribution of seats in the election.

Party				Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Alliance for Germany		Christian Democratic Union	4,710,598	40.8	163	+111
			German Social Union	727,730	6.3	25	New
			Democratic Awakening	106,146	0.9	4	New
		Total		5,544,474	48.0	192	New
	Social Democratic Party			2,525,534	21.9	88	New
	Party of Democratic Socialism			1,892,381	16.4	66	–39
	Association of Free Democrats			608,935	5.3	21	–31
	Alliance 90			336,074	2.9	12	New
	Democratic Farmers' Party			251,226	2.2	9	–43
	Green Party–Independent Women's Association			226,932	2.0	8	New
	National Democratic Party			44,292	0.4	2	–50
	Democratic Women's League			38,192	0.3	1	–31
	United Left			20,342	0.2	1	New
Other parties				52,773	0.5	0	–133
Invalid/blank votes				33,263	–	–	–
Total				11,541,155	100	400	–100
Registered voters/turnout				12,426,443	93.4	–	–
Source: Pridham & Vanhanen,[15] Nohlen & Stöver,[16] IPU[17]

Popular Vote CDU   40.82% SPD   21.88% PDS   16.40% DSU   6.31% BFD   5.28% B90   2.91% DBD   2.18% GRÜNE/UFV   1.97% DA   0.92% NDPD   0.38% DFD   0.33% VL   0.18% Other   0.46%

Volkskammer seats CDU   40.75% SPD   22.00% PDS   16.50% DSU   6.25% BFD   5.25% B90   3.00% DBD   2.25% GRÜNE/UFV   2.00% DA   1.00% NDPD   0.50% DFD   0.25% VL   0.25%

Aftermath

The newly elected Volkskammer was constituted on 5 April 1990, and elected Sabine Bergmann-Pohl of the CDU as its president. As the State Council of the GDR was dissolved at the same time, she became East Germany's interim head of state. Four days later, after protracted negotiations, Lothar de Maizière announced the formation of a grand coalition between the Alliance for Germany, SPD, and BFD. On 12 April 1990, he was elected Prime Minister of the GDR by the Volkskammer with 265 votes in favour, 108 against, and 9 abstentions. The new cabinet was also confirmed. The partners in the coalition commanded a two-thirds supermajority in the Volkskammer, enough to pass amendments to the constitution.[18][19]

The new parliament quickly passed several pieces of major legislation, including a new law regarding local government on 17 May, a law ratifying the monetary, economic, and social union with the Federal Republic of Germany on 18 May (which became effective on 1 July), and constitutional amendments on 17 June. On 21 June, the Volkskammer formed a special committee, chaired by Joachim Gauck, to control the dissolution of the Ministry for State Security (Stasi).[20]

On 20 September 1990, the Volkskammer voted 299–80 to accept the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, which had earlier been approved in a 442–47 vote by the West German Bundestag. The treaty stipulated that East Germany would unify its territory with Federal Republic of Germany via Article 23 of the Basic Law, meaning that East Germany, after 40 years of existence, would cease to exist, and the Volkskammer along with it. Its last legislative period therefore only lasted four and a half months. The treaty took effect on 3 October 1990. On the same day, 144 of the 400 former Volkskammer deputies became members of the Bundestag: 63 from the CDU, 33 from the SPD, 24 from the PDS, 9 from the BFD, 8 from the DSU, and 7 from Alliance 90 and the Green Party. Their tenure came to an end two months later with the first all-German federal election on 2 December 1990.[21]

Notes

1. New Forum 1%, Democracy Now 1%.
2. New Forum 3%.
3. New Forum 5.8%.
4. New Forum 22%.

References

1. Kamm, Henry (1990-03-19). "Conservatives Backed By Kohl Top East German Vote Solidly, But Appear To Need Coalition". The New York Times.
2. Kamm, Henry (1990-03-20). "German Losers Reject Victor's Invitation". The New York Times.
3. "Goals of the Central Round Table (December 7, 1989)". germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org.
4. "People's Chamber Election Law" (PDF). 20 February 1990.
5. "Volkskammer Election 1990". bpb.de. 19 March 2009.
6. Kai Diekmann, Ralf Georg Reuth: Helmut Kohl: "I wanted Germany's unity". 3rd edition. Propylaea, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-549-05597-8, p. 288 ff.
7. Kai Diekmann, Ralf Georg Reuth: Helmut Kohl: "I wanted Germany's unity". 3rd edition. Propylaea, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-549-05597-8, p. 316.
8. "„Nie wieder Sozialismus" – Election appeal and program of the Alliance for Germany for the Volkskammer election in the GDR on 18 March 1990" (PDF). Alliance for Germany.
9. For the Leipzig policy program see: Dieter Dowe, Kurt Klotzbach (ed.): Programmatic documents of German social democracy (= Politics in paperback. 2). 3rd, revised and updated edition. J. H. W. Dietz Nachf., Bonn 1990, ISBN 3-8012-0100-7, pp. 447-490.
10. "First free election to the People's Chamber, surrounding area of Berlin, January to March 1990: PDS poster "Election Program"". wir-waren-so-frei.de.
11. Michael Schneider: The aborted revolution. From the state company to the DM colony (= Elefanten-Press. 371). Verlag Elefanten-Press, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-88520-371-5, p. 114 ff.
12. "Civil rights activist Jens Reich: "Politics is not my job."". focus.de. 4 November 2009.
13. Schindler, Peter: Data manual on the history of the German Bundestag: 1949 to 1999, volume 3, p. 3808
14. Stern Issue No. 48/23 November 1989 - Germany intoxicated
15. Geoffrey Pridham, Tatu Vanhanen. Democratization in Eastern Europe Routledge, 1994. ISBN 0-415-11063-7 pp. 135
16. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p779 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
17. "German Democratic Republic: Parliamentary elections Volkskammer, 1990". IPU.
18. "History of German parliamentarianism: 1949–89: Volkskammer of the GDR (East-Germany)". German Bundestag. 2008-11-19. Archived from the original on 2009-02-09. Retrieved 2008-11-19.
19. Schmemann, Serge (1990-04-09). "East Germans Form 'Grand Coalition'". The New York Times.
20. BStU annual review 1989/90. In: BStU.Bund.de; Resolution decision in the 9th session of the 10th People's Chamber of May 31, 1990, see video and and Decision (PDF) at the German Bundestag.
21. "Politics in Germany: The Online Edition". University of California, Irvine. 2008-11-19.