The 1946 Greater Berlin City Council election (''Stadtverordnetenversammlung von Groß-Berlin'') was held on 20 October 1946 to elect all 130 members of the City Council. It was the only all-Berlin election in the period between the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

in 1990. The clear winner of the election was 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 Form ...

(SPD) led by

Otto Ostrowski Otto Ostrowski (28 January 1883 in Spremberg – 16 June 1963 in Knokke, Belgium) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and Mayor of Berlin in 1946–1947. Ostrowski graduated in Romance studies and after W ...

, which won 48.7% and 63 seats, just three short of a majority. The Christian Democratic Union finished in second place under Ferdinand Friedensburg with 22.2% of votes and 29 seats. The

Socialist Unity Party The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (, ; SED, ) was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from the country's foundation in 1949 until its dissolution after the Peaceful Revolution in 1989. It was a Ma ...

(SED), formed a few months earlier as a merger of the Communist Party and the SPD branches in the Soviet zone, took just 19.8% of the vote and 26 seats. The remaining 9.3% of the votes went to the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) which received 12 seats. Voter turnout was 92.3%. The result was a clear rejection of the Socialist Unity Party, which was favored by the Soviet occupation authority, and of the CDU, which came to dominate politics in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. SPD leader Ostrowski was elected mayor by the City Council in December and formed a cabinet comprising all four parties. However, rising hostility between the SPD and SED saw him come under pressure to dismiss the SED members of the ministry. When he refused, the SPD put forward a motion of no confidence in the city council, which narrowly fell short of the two-thirds majority required to pass. However Ostrowski's position was untenable and he resigned a few days later on 17 April. He was replaced by

Ernst Reuter Ernst Rudolf Johannes Reuter (29 July 1889 – 29 September 1953) was the mayor of West Berlin from 1948 to 1953, during the time of the Cold War. He played a significant role in unifying the divided sectors of Berlin and publicly and politically ...

, who took a strongly anti-SED and anti-Soviet stance. As a result, the Soviet authorities refused to consent to his appointment and

Louise Schroeder Louise Dorothea Schroeder (2 April 1887 in Altona (Elbe) – 4 June 1957 in Berlin) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) party. She was among the 41 female members of the Weimar National Assembly, the Constitu ...

became acting mayor. In 1948, the eastern district and Soviet authorities withdrew from the city council and government, ''de facto'' dividing the city.

Results

{{Berlin state elections

External links

Wahlen Berlin

Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv

Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung
Elections in Berlin

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...