State election in Saxony in 1990
The state election in Saxony in 1990 was the first election of the Saxon state parliament since the re-establishment of the Free State of Saxony as a result of German reunification on October 3, 1990. It took place on October 14, 1990 .
Starting position
The last state elections in Saxony were the sham elections of 1950 . It was only after the fall of the Wall in March 1990 that the Volkskammer elections were the first free elections in the GDR . The alliance for Germany had become the strongest party in all Saxon circles. The local elections in the GDR in 1990 on May 6th also produced a strong result for the CDU (which, however, was lower than in the Volkskammer elections due to the strength of free voter communities).
| Political party | Share of municipality / city council elections | Share of district councils / urban districts |
|---|---|---|
| CDU | 39.8% | 44.6% |
| SPD | 12.9% | 14.7% |
| PDS | 17.6% | 21.0% |
| Green | 3.5% | 4.5% |
| FDP | 8.3% | 7.5% |
| Others | 25.0% | 17.1% |
There were regional differences. The Saxon part of the former district of Leipzig was the weakest for the alliance parties, in the areas of the old districts of Dresden and Chemnitz there were clear majorities for the CDU and DSU. Party strongholds of the CDU were the rural areas and places with up to 50,000 inhabitants, the SPD and PDS had their strongholds in large cities. Confessionally bound voters voted for the CDU with a clear majority, non-denominational voters more often opted for the former state party SED, which was renamed the PDS.
Election campaign
The CDU entered as the top candidate with Kurt Biedenkopf, who has been teaching commercial law at the University of Leipzig since the beginning of 1990 . The CDU placed four points at the center of the program: Firstly, it is important to re-create the state of Saxony, to respect the diversity of the regions and to strengthen the local level. Second, the renewal of the economy should be promoted against the background of its social and ecological responsibility. Thirdly, the education, research and development sectors would have to be adapted to Western standards. And fourth, it is essential to revive Saxony as a traditional cultural land on the basis of the new economic and social order. The central election slogan “For a blooming Saxony” was linked to Helmut Kohl's words about blooming landscapes . In addition, the slogans “For a strong Saxony” and “It's about Saxony” were used. The election campaign was supported by the federal party and the CDU Baden-Württemberg .
The SPD's election campaign was also supported by the federal party and the SPD North Rhine-Westphalia . This was particularly important because the party had only 4,300 members in Saxony at the end of 1990 and was therefore significantly smaller than the PDS and CDU. One problem of the SPD was that symbols of social democracy, such as red flags, the salutation “Comrade” and the term socialism , were largely discredited by society and were continued by the PDS. The Social Democrats therefore replaced the word “socialism” with “solidarity” in the election campaign and presented themselves as a “party of social justice”, as a “party of social competence”. The core of the program was a “three-point plan”: Firstly, a “huge investment offensive in Saxony” was to be encouraged that would attract private capital and build up a high-performing medium-sized company. Second, this should be done as part of an “ecological restructuring of Saxon industry”. Thirdly, a “qualification offensive for employees” was called for. Anke Fuchs ran as the top candidate . Just like Biedenkopf, she had announced that she only wanted to stay in Saxony in the event of an election victory.
The DSU campaign "For Saxony a Saxon" with the top candidate Jürgen Schwarz took up this topic and tried to demonstrate local roots.
With around 71,500 members (end of 1990), the PDS had the largest number of members and in the Dresden district alone still had 496 full-time employees in the middle of the year. However, the PDS continued to decline and politically isolated. In order to break this isolation and avoid competition from the left, she formed an electoral alliance with the Marxist party Die Nelken, the KPD, the FDJ and the Marxist youth association Young Left and stood for election as the “Left List - PDS”. The PDS presented itself as a new, democratic party that no longer had anything to do with the SED in terms of personnel or programs. With the slogan “For a democratic and socially just Saxony” and the multiple use of Willy Brandt's slogan “ Dare to more democracy ” tried to distract them from their own politics as a state party. In terms of content, factual issues such as peace and demilitarization, ecology, culture, market economy and social security were discussed. In addition, she tried to address the losers caused by transformation-related upheavals and to bind the elites of the former GDR. The demand for the preservation of "GDR achievements" and the issue of unemployment played in this direction.
Survey
In all the polls, the CDU was by far the strongest party. Biedenkopf was known to about three quarters of those eligible to vote. He was also the most popular candidate: When asked who the voters would rather see as Prime Minister in Saxony, 56 percent voted for Biedenkopf and only 33 percent for Fuchs.
Election mode
Half of the 160 members of the 1st Saxon state parliament were elected directly and the other half by proportional representation. The Free State of Saxony was divided into 80 constituencies with a total of 5106 constituencies. The distribution of seats was based on the Hare-Niemeyer method .
Result
With a turnout of 72.8%, the CDU reached under her top candidate Kurt Biedenkopf , the absolute majority of deputies in the parliament of Saxony. She managed to win all 80 direct mandates.
| Political party | First votes | Second votes | proportion of | Mandates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CDU | 1,321,619 | 1,417,332 | 53.8% | 92 |
| SPD | 458.385 | 502.722 | 19.1% | 32 |
| Left list PDS | 286,432 | 269,420 | 10.2% | 17th |
| FORUM 1 | 183.182 | 147,543 | 5.6% | 10 |
| FDP | 173,556 | 138,376 | 5.3% | 9 |
| DSU | 150,399 | 94,347 | 3.6% | |
| NPD | - | 17,727 | 0.7% | |
| THERE | 8,775 | 14,894 | 0.6% | |
| league | - | 12,851 | 0.5% | |
| DBU | 5,724 | 12,530 | 0.5% | |
| RAP | 398 | 3,232 | 0.1% | |
| SHB | - | 2,448 | 0.1% | |
| 6 individual applicants | 14,918 | - | - | - |
1 New Forum / Alliance / Greens
For elected officials see the list of members of the Saxon parliament (first term) , for the elected government see Cabinet Biedenkopf I .
literature
- Thomas Schubert: Election campaign in Saxony: A qualitative longitudinal analysis of the state election campaigns 1990-2004, 2011, ISBN 9783531928302
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Final official election result of the state elections in 1990 in the Free State of Saxony State Statistical Office of the Free State of Saxony
- ↑ Thomas Schubert: Wahlkampf in Sachsen, pp. 94–95, table on page 444 ( online )
- ↑ Michael Richter: The formation of the Free State of Saxony. Peaceful revolution, federalization, German unity 1989/90 (= writings of the Hannah Arendt Institute. Vol. 24). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-525-36900-X , p. 829.
- ↑ Thomas Schubert: Wahlkampf in Sachsen, pp. 93-145
- ↑ Forschungsgruppe Wahlen eV (1990b): Elections in the new federal states. An analysis of the state elections of October 14, 1990, Mannheim, p. 169; Willy Koch / Oskar Niedermayer (1991): Party members in Leipzig, Leipzig / Mannheim, p. 28.
