Bundesarchiv Bild 183-S74916, Berlin, Behrenstraße, SED-Wahlpropagenda

State elections were held in the

Soviet occupation zone The Soviet Occupation Zone ( or german: Ostzone, label=none, "East Zone"; , ''Sovetskaya okkupatsionnaya zona Germanii'', "Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany") was an area of Germany in Central Europe that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a ...

of Germany on 20 October 1946 to elect the state legislatures of

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; nds, Mäkelborg-Vörpommern), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in po ...

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 sq ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it th ...

and

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...

. They were the only elections held in the future territory of East Germany before the establishment of the

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **G ...

in 1949, and the only

free and fair elections A free and fair election is defined by political scientist Robert Dahl as an election in which " coercion is comparatively uncommon". A free and fair election involves political freedoms and fair processes leading up to the vote, a fair count of ...

in that part of Germany between

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort to assassinate Emperor Hiro ...

and the Peaceful Revolution. The

Socialist Unity Party of Germany The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (german: Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, ; SED, ), often known in English as the East German Communist Party, was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (GDR; East German ...

(SED), which was formed by the forced merger of the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

and the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

in the Soviet occupation zone, became the largest party but achieved an absolute majority in only one state. The SED was created in view of the holding of elections in the Soviet zone, as a first step for future political reforms. In addition to the SED, three other parties participated; the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Peasants Mutual Aid Association (VdgB). Two other organizations participated but only in Saxony. The SED landslide victory was seen by Soviet authorities as a justification for the development of socialism in their zone. The occupation authorities quickly dropped all pretense of liberal democracy, and by the time of the elections for a constitutional assembly in 1949, voters only had the option of approving or rejecting an SED-controlled "unity list." The next state elections were held in 1950, after the establishment of the German Democratic Republic.

Results

Overall

Brandenburg

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

Saxony

Saxony-Anhalt

Thuringia

References

Martin Broszat Martin Broszat (14 August 1926 – 14 October 1989) was a German historian specializing in modern German social history. As director of the Institut für Zeitgeschichte (Institute for Contemporary History) in Munich from 1972 until his deat ...

, Gerhard Braas, Hermann Weber (1993). ''SBZ-Handbuch'', . * Mathias Tullner (1997). ''Zwischen Demokratie und Diktatur. Die Kommunalwahlen und die Wahlen zum Provinziallandtag in Sachsen-Anhalt im Jahre 1946'', Magdeburgo, pp. 95–98. *Richard Schachtner (1956). ''Die deutschen Nachkriegswahlen: Wahlergebnisse in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, in den deutschen Bundesländern, in West-Berlin, im Saarland und in der Sowjetzone (DDR) 1946-19'', Isar-Verlag, Múnich, pp. 77-78. *Günter Braun: ''Wahlen und Abstimmungen.'' In: Martin Broszat, Hermann Weber (1990). ''SBZ-Handbuch'', Oldenbourg, Múnich, pp. 397, 396 & 418. * Herbert Gottwald (1994). ''Der Thüringer Landtag 1946-1952''. Thüringer Landtag in Verbindung mit Wartburg Verlag, Jena, pp. 56, 81 & 101. *Karl-Heinz Hajna (2000). ''Die Landtagswahlen 1946 in der SBZ'', Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main, {{Authority control Elections in East Germany

Soviet Occupation During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed several countries effectively handed over by Nazi Germany in the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. These included the eastern regions of Poland (incorporated into two different ...

Elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Elections in Saxony Elections in Saxony-Anhalt Elections in Thuringia Elections in Brandenburg 1946 elections in Germany Soviet occupation zone