Local elections in the GDR in 1990

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Sample ballot for local elections - for the first time with multiple lists
Election poster of the CDU in Leipzig for the local elections

The local elections in the GDR in 1990 took place on May 6, almost a year after the local elections of 1989 . The local elections in 1990 were the first (and at the same time the last) free local elections in the GDR , since for the first time since the SED's monopoly on power had broken, competing parties competed against each other according to democratic principles.

prehistory

Local elections in the GDR in 1989

In the local elections in 1989, which were carried out as sham elections, the official turnout was “98.78%”. The winner (because the only list available for election) was the “joint nomination of the National Front ”, which received “98.85%” of the vote.

In the local elections on May 7, 1989, election fraud by the SED was proven for the first time . After the polling stations had closed, the GDR citizens had gathered to watch the votes being counted. Although the counting of votes was public according to Section 37 (1) of the GDR Election Act, attempts were made to exclude GDR citizens from the counting of votes. The observers registered significantly more no votes in almost all constituencies than were officially announced. The election fraud, which was proven for the first time, strengthened the opposition movement in the GDR . From then on on the 7th of each month there were demonstrations against electoral fraud in front of churches in (East) Berlin and on Alexanderplatz . The Stasi tried hard to stop the criticism that was growing louder and louder. The demonstrations against the election fraud are seen as the beginning of the end of the GDR . The demonstrations expanded over time and culminated in the Monday demonstrations in autumn. After the turning point and the peaceful revolution, free local elections were held in the GDR on May 6, 1990.

The turning point in the municipalities

In many municipalities, the mayors and district administrators were replaced after reunification. Since the local parliaments continued to consist of the representatives of the SED and the bloc parties, round tables were often set up at the local level based on the model of the central round table .

Suffrage

On March 6, 1990, the People's Chamber had passed a municipal election law (the law on elections to district assemblies, city council assemblies, city district assemblies and municipal councils ). This was the legal basis for the local elections. Then the elections took place in free, secret and direct election according to the proportional representation . All citizens aged 18 and over were eligible to vote. There was no blocking clause , candidates had to submit a quorum of 5% of those eligible to vote, but no more than 200 signatures, to be allowed to vote. The Republicans party was not allowed to vote (as was the case with the People's Chamber election). Shortly after the election, the People's Chamber passed the GDR municipal constitution, which formed the working basis for the newly elected municipal parliaments. Each voter had three votes and could cumulate and variegate . Municipal councils or city council assemblies and district assemblies were elected. District days were not elected because the legislature assumed that the districts would be dissolved when the federal states were reintroduced. District assemblies for city districts were also not elected (exception: East Berlin). The community councils were relatively large. Villages with up to 500 inhabitants elected seven to 15 community representatives, the city council meetings of cities with up to 500,000 inhabitants could have up to 130 members. The right to vote for foreigners that existed in the GDR had not been revoked. Foreigners therefore had both active and passive voting rights if they had been registered there for at least two years. However, since only 150,000 foreigners were registered in the territory of the GDR, this regulation played no material role. The parties were listed in alphabetical order on the ballot. There was no postal voting option .

The vote

62 nationwide parties and organizations had registered with the Presidium of the People's Chamber and were thus automatically approved nationwide. In addition to the Republicans, the National Alternative Party was refused admission. 7787 municipal parliaments were elected, including 216 district assemblies or city districts of independent cities, 615 city council assemblies of independent cities and 6,945 city council assemblies or municipal councils and the 11 city district assemblies in East Berlin. 258,501 candidates, including 81 foreigners, applied for the 119,652 mandates. In each of the 20,247 electoral districts, an electoral board of at least seven members was formed.

Election result

May 7, 1990: The chairmen of the largest parties in local elections in the polling studio of the German TV broadcaster

The nationwide voter turnout was 75%. According to the official final result, the CDU won 30.4%, the SPD 21.0%, the PDS 14.0%, the BFD 6.3%, the DSU 3.4% and the New Forum came to 2.4% of the valid votes cast. Smaller parties together received 24.9% of the vote. With this election result, the GDR citizens decided to quickly adapt the system of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The following table shows the election results according to (future) countries. For comparison, the values ​​of the Volkskammer election as well as those of the state elections and the 1990 federal elections are listed:

country choice Eligible voters Voters be right
invalid valid
number number % number % number
East Berlin Volkskammer election 966.241 876.079 90.7 3,456 0.4 872.623
Local election 969.565 684.674 70.6 18,394 2.7 1,971,000
House of Representatives election 959.753 731.023 76.2 5,865 0.8 724,536
Bundestag election 963.992 732.395 76.0 9,615 1.3 722.780
Brandenburg Volkskammer election 1,973,272 1,845,821 93.5 10,517 0.6 1,835,304
Local election 1,973,877 1,471,918 74.6 102,489 7.0 3,989,841
State election 1,955,403 1.312.120 67.1 38.214 2.9 1,273,906
Bundestag election 1,956,684 1,444,148 73.8 20,708 1.4 1,423,440
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Volkskammer election 1,449,383 1,346,012 92.9 8,445 0.6 1,337,567
Local election 1,442,630 1,046,197 72.5 73,658 7.0 2,843,104
State election 1,431,020 926.220 64.7 30,221 3.3 895.999
Bundestag election 1,432,336 1,015,043 70.9 17,922 1.8 997.121
Saxony Volkskammer election 3,730,550 3,491,040 93.6 19,686 0.6 3,471,354
Local election 3,736,900 2,838,883 76.0 176.030 6.2 7,782,898
State election 3,709,210 2,699,274 72.8 66,302 0.6 2,633,422
Bundestag election 3,707,677 2,825,162 76.2 44,492 1.6 2,780,670
Saxony-Anhalt Volkskammer election 2,256,003 2,107,394 93.4 12,139 0.6 2,095,255
Local election 2,259,782 1,667,656 73.8 117,672 7.1 4,526,653
State election 2,234,994 1,455,634 65.1 43,122 3.0 1,412,512
Bundestag election 2,237,790 1,615,723 72.2 24,337 1.5 1,591,386
Thuringia Volkskammer election 2,037,349 1,924,427 94.5 8,934 0.5 1,915,493
Local election 2,030,120 1,595,411 78.6 111,462 7.0 4,325,257
State election 2,010,395 1,595,411 71.7 37,816 2.6 1,403,354
Bundestag election 2,009,711 1,534,654 76.4 20,382 1.3 1,514,272
Entire GDR / New Lander and East Berlin Volkskammer election 12,412,798 11,590,773 93.4 63.177 0.5 11,527,596
Local election 12,412,874 9,304,739 75.0 599,705 6.4 24,438,753
State election 12,300,775 8,565,891 69.6 221,540 2.6 8,343,729
Bundestag election 12,308,190 9,167,125 74.5 137,456 1.5 9,029,669

The turnout in local elections was well below the record level that had been set in the Volkskammer election, but it was also well above the values ​​that are usually measured in local elections in Germany. What is striking is the very high proportion of invalid votes, a consequence of the electoral law with the possibility of cumulating and variegating the three votes .

country choice Of the valid votes, were accounted for
CDU SPD FDP PDS B90 / size Others
number % number % number % number % number % number %
East Berlin Volkskammer election 169.380 19.4 304,891 34.9 27,832 3.2 261,569 30.0 78,863 9.0 30,088 3.4
Local elections 361.288 18.3 670.881 34.0 43,081 2.2 592.102 30.0 247.429 12.6 56,219 2.9
House of Representatives election 180.790 25.0 232.385 32.1 40,863 5.6 170,666 23.6 82,846 11.4 16,986 2.3
Bundestag election 175,555 24.3 226.237 31.3 56.009 7.7 179.279 24.8 63,562 8.8 22,138 3.1
Brandenburg Volkskammer election 629.844 34.3 548.912 29.9 94,580 5.2 335.822 18.3 99,304 5.4 126,842 6.9
Local elections 1,086,911 27.2 1,123,496 28.2 239,561 6.0 662.106 16.6 311,624 7.8 566.143 14.2
State election 374,572 28.4 487.134 38.2 84.501 6.6 170,804 13.4 117.963 9.3 38,932 3.1
Bundestag election 516,617 36.3 468.294 32.9 138,586 9.7 157.022 11.0 94,386 6.6 48,535 3.4
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Volkskammer election 494.190 36.9 313.020 23.4 54,830 4.1 305.123 2.8 58,463 4.4 111,941 8.4
Local elections 794.736 28.0 584,845 20.6 181,467 6.4 538.876 19.0 232.879 8.2 510.301 17.9
State election 343,447 38.3 242.147 27.0 49.104 5.5 140.397 15.7 83,514 9.3 37,390 4.2
Bundestag election 410.940 41.2 264,715 26.5 91,229 9.1 141.906 14.2 58,792 5.9 29,539 3.0
Saxony Volkskammer election 1,539,114 44.3 522.580 15.1 211,355 6.1 472.037 13.6 163,654 4.7 562,614 16.2
Local elections 3,238,379 41.6 1,146,681 14.7 583,948 7.5 907.504 11.7 596,571 7.7 1,309,815 16.8
State election 1,432,225 54.4 502.722 19.1 138,376 5.3 269,420 10.2 147,543 5.6 143.135 5.4
Bundestag election 1,376,055 49.5 505.176 18.2 345,471 12.4 251.217 9.0 163.192 5.9 139,559 5.0
Saxony-Anhalt Volkskammer election 945.926 45.1 496,606 23.7 168.931 8.1 293,605 14.0 83,233 4.0 106,945 5.1
Local elections 1,620,575 35.8 1,033,928 22.8 480.811 10.6 573,823 12.7 287,595 6.4 529.921 11.7
State election 550.815 39.0 367.254 26.0 190,800 13.5 169.319 12.0 74,696 5.3 59,628 4.2
Bundestag election 613,515 38.6 393.396 24.7 314.265 19.7 149.053 9.4 83,976 5.3 37.181 2.3
Thuringia Volkskammer election 1,036,678 54.1 335,583 17.5 95,382 5.0 217.960 11.4 78,709 4.1 151.181 7.9
Local elections 1,813,243 41.9 846.212 19.6 333.454 7.7 452.275 10.5 285,678 6.6 594,399 13.7
State election 673.055 45.4 319.376 22.8 130.035 9.3 136.464 9.7 100,428 7.2 79.996 5.7
Bundestag election 684.743 45.2 332.377 21.9 221,621 14.6 125.154 8.3 92,567 6.1 57,810 3.8
Entire GDR / New Lander and East Berlin Volkskammer election 4,815,132 41.8 2,521,592 21.9 652.910 5.7 1,886,116 16.4 562.226 4.9 1,089,620 9.5
Local elections 8,915,132 35.0 5,406,043 21.3 1,862,322 7.3 3,726,686 14.6 1,961,772 7.7 3,566,798 14.0
State election 3,518,905 42.2 2,151,018 25.8 633.679 7.6 1,057,070 12.7 606.990 7.3 376.067 4.5
Bundestag election 3,777,425 41.8 2,190,195 24.3 1,167,181 12.9 1,003,631 11.1 556.475 6.2 334,762 3.7

consequences

The local elections also resulted in the disempowerment of the old elites at the regional level. After May 6, 1990, the first freely elected representatives entered the local parliaments. The composition of the regional local parliaments was quite varied. Local electoral alliances of all kinds received almost a quarter of all votes. These electoral alliances were partly fire brigades, sports clubs and also church communities. In many places, responsibility was taken by people who had not previously had any political experience.

Subsequent elections

Due to the end of the GDR, these were the last elections in this state. The following local elections were carried out according to state law of the newly created federal states. These were:

See also

Web links

Commons : Local elections in the GDR 1990  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hermann Weber : The GDR 1945–1990. Oldenbourg Verlag, 2012, ISBN 978-3-486-70478-5 , p. 107 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  2. ^ "Action plan of the Minister for State Security to reject and prevent the activities of opposition forces May 19, 1989" on democie-statt-diktatur.de , a website of the Stasi records authority . Retrieved April 12, 2014.
  3. ↑ a b Das aus für die Alten Kader , accessed on August 4, 2017
  4. ^ Law on the elections to district assemblies, city council assemblies, city district assemblies and municipal councils of March 6, 1990 (Journal of Laws I 1990, p. 99) - GDR municipal election law
  5. ↑ Republicans are not allowed to vote in local elections; in: FAZ of April 18, 1990, p. 2
  6. ↑ Law of May 17, 1990 - Journal of Laws I 1990, p. 255
  7. ^ Friedrich Karl Fromme : Each voter can give three votes; in: FAZ of May 5, 1990, p. 4.
  8. ^ The Germans in the GDR elect 7787 local parliaments; in: FAZ of May 5, 1990, p. 1.
  9. ↑ Ulrich Schallmoser : Statics and Dynamics of the German Question. Tectum Verlag DE, 1994, ISBN 978-3-929-01963-6 , p. 115 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  10. ↑ Federal Statistical Office: Population and Employment; Subject series 1; Special issue: Elections 1990 in the new federal states and East Berlin, Wiesbaden, 1992