State elections were held in the

Soviet occupation zone The Soviet occupation zone in Germany ( or , ; ) was an area of Germany that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a communist area, established as a result of the Potsdam Agreement on 2 August 1945. On 7 October 1949 the German Democratic Republ ...

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

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; ), also known by its Anglicisation, anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a Federated state, state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's States of Germany, sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpom ...

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...

and

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

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

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

in 1949, and the only free and fair elections 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 (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

and the

Peaceful Revolution The Peaceful Revolution () – also, in German called ' (, "the turning point") – was one of the peaceful revolutions of 1989 at the peak of the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in the late 1980s. A process of sociopolitical change that led to, am ...

. The

Socialist Unity Party of Germany 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 Mar ...

(SED), which was formed by the forced merger of the Communist Party 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 Form ...

in the Soviet occupation zone, became the largest party, but did not achieve an absolute majority in any 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 cajoled the other parties into forming a "coalition" in which only the SED had any real power. By the time of the elections for a constitutional assembly in 1949, voters only had the option of approving or rejecting a "unity list" put forward by the SED-dominated Democratic Bloc. The next state elections were held in 1950, after the establishment of the German Democratic Republic.

Results

Overall

East Berlin

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 ...

, 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 three differe ...

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