Local elections in the GDR 1974

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State coat of arms of the German Democratic Republic

The local elections in the GDR in 1974 took place on May 19, 1974. It was the sixth local elections in the GDR .

Electoral system

It was a sham election . It could only be voted on the unified list of the National Front . The election did not affect the strength of the factions. Their size was determined in advance. The electoral law of the GDR allowed public control of the electoral count on paper. In practice, this did not take place for fear of repression. All ballot papers for which not all candidates had been struck off were counted as approval of the list of the National Front. The representatives were determined in municipalities, cities and districts .

The local elections also took place in East Berlin . Due to the four-power status of the city of Berlin, East Berlin was not part of the GDR, but the “City Council of Greater Berlin” (meaning East Berlin) was in fact equivalent to a district day.

Election result

12.2 million residents were eligible to vote; according to official figures, the turnout was 98.27%. 0.2% of the ballot papers were invalid. According to the official figures, 99.91% of the voters voted for the unit list. 0.09% or 20,571 votes were shown as votes against.

In the district assemblies and city council assemblies of the city districts, 20,763 mandates were awarded. In the city council assemblies of the towns and municipal councils belonging to the district this was 166,299 and in the city district assemblies 3833. These were distributed according to the following key (it should be noted here that the representatives of the mass organizations were often also SED members):

Party / group acronym Seats district assemblies Seats city councils Seats borough councils
Socialist Unity Party of Germany SED 4574 57,343 839
Free German Federation of Trade Unions FDGB 3762 22,466 879
Christian Democratic Union of Germany CDU 1748 9687 314
Liberal Democratic Party of Germany LDPD 1667 5547 312
Democratic Peasant Party of Germany DBD 1695 12,993 185
National Democratic Party of Germany NDPD 1727 5283 310
Free German Youth FDJ 2500 16,050 561
Democratic Women's Association of Germany DFD 1756 17,625 317
Kulturbund KB 471 1550 76
Association of mutual farmers' aid VdgB / BHG 508 9142 4th
Consumer cooperatives Consumer cooperatives 349 6167 36
National front National front 6th 2446 ./.

Legal bases

Legal basis of the election was the electoral law of 31 July 1963 in the version of 17 December 1969. The Election Code was by decision of the Council of State was established on 31 July 1963rd

swell

  • MPs as recipients of orders; in: FAZ of May 21, 1974, p. 5.
  • Peter J. Lapp: Elections in the GDR, 1982, ISBN 3-921-226-16-3 , pp. 21, 39, 40.

Individual evidence

  1. Law on the Elections to the People's Representations of the German Democratic Republic of July 31, 1963, Journal of Laws of I No. 8, p. 79, amended by the Acts to Amend the Election Act of September 13, 1965 (Journal of Laws of I No. 13, P. 207), May 2, 1967 (Journal I No. 7, p. 57) and December 17, 1969 (Journal I 1970 No. 1, p. 1)
  2. ^ Resolution of the Council of State of the German Democratic Republic of July 31, 1963 on the elections to the People's Chamber and the local representative bodies of the German Democratic Republic of July 31, 1963, Journal I, No. 8, p. 99, amended by various resolutions of the State Council, last from February 25, 1974 (Journal of Laws of I, No. 11, p. 92)