National Front (East Germany) - History

History

The National Front was the successor to the Demokratischer Block which had been founded in the Soviet occupation zone. The Front itself was founded on March 30, 1950. It operated through the issuing of a generally consistent proportion of seats (divided between the Front's parties and SED-controlled mass organisations) submitted in the form of a single list of candidates during each election to the People's Chamber and based on a set quota rather than vote totals. As the Front's list was the only one submitted it "won" with virtually unanimous levels of support.

Although nominally a broad-based coalition, in practice the SED was the only one with any real power. By ensuring that Communists dominated the lists, the SED essentially predetermined the composition of the People's Chamber.

In 1950-1951, the public rejection of the validity of the list by some German politicians resulted in prison penalties for "rejecting the electoral law of the German Democratic Republic" (as in the case of LDPD leader Günther Stempel). By the mid-1950s, the more courageous members of the constituent parties had been pushed out, and the parties had all been transformed into loyal partners of the SED.

On December 5, 1989, the Front was effectively rendered impotent when the Christian Democratic Union and Liberal Democratic Party withdrew from it. On December 16 the ruling Socialist Unity Party was reformed into the Party of Democratic Socialism and distanced itself from prior SED policies. On February 20, 1990, an amendment to the Constitution of East Germany removed mention of the Front.