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$Unique_ID{bob00188}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Unified Germany
2 December 1990: All-German elections to the Bundestag}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{German Embassy, Washington DC}
$Affiliation{German Embassy, Washington DC}
$Subject{federal
german
germany
berlin
republic
gdr
unification
application
august
bundestag
see
tables
}
$Date{1990}
$Log{See Table 1.*0018801.tab
}
Title: Unified Germany
Book: Scala
Author: German Embassy, Washington DC
Affiliation: German Embassy, Washington DC
Date: 1990
2 December 1990: All-German elections to the Bundestag
The election of the 12th Bundestag is taking place on 2 December 1990.
For the first time since 1945 the German people as a whole will be able to
elect its representative parliament. In addition to this, the deputies to the
Bundestag representing the federal state of Berlin are being directly elected
for the first time. German citizens living abroad are also entitled to vote.
Who can vote?
Germans living abroad have the right to participate in Bundestag
elections if they
- are German citizens,
- are at least 18 years of age on polling day,
- have, since 23 May 1949, lived in the Federal Republic of Germany
including Berlin (West) or within the territory of the federal states of
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony. Thuringia
or Berlin (East) for an uninterrupted period of at least three months.
- either live in a country which is a member of the Council of Europe
(see table below) or
- live in another country, but less than ten years has passed since their
departure from the above-mentioned areas, and
- are not disqualified from voting (eg due to legal incapacitation).
[See Table 1.: The other members states of the Council of Europe:]
When do elections take place?
As a rule, the Bundestag is elected every four years. The next Bundestag
elections take place on 2 December 1990. Polling day will be announced by the
embassy and consulates of the Federal Republic of Germany in your country of
residence. The announcement, with information on participation in the
election, will be made through newspaper advertisements in German or by other
means. As a rule, Germans living abroad who are entitled to vote exercise this
right by means of a postal ballot. However, to ensure that your vote can be
counted, the postal ballot papers must reach the appropriate authority in good
time.
What do I have to do to exercise my right to vote?
If you live abroad, are not registered as resident in the territory
covered by the Federal Election Act and wish to vote in the Bundestag
elections, you must first be entered on the electoral register. In order to do
this, a formal written application must be made together with a statutory
declaration. Application forms can be obtained from:
- embassies and consulates of the Federal Republic of Germany,
- the Federal Returning Officer, Statistisches Bundesamt, Postfach 5528,
D-6200 Wiesbaden, Federal Republic of Germany, or
- local returning officers.
What do I have to do with the application form?
Each elector must submit an individual application in order to be entered
on the electoral register. Please promptly send the completed application form
and declaration to the municipality where you were last registered as resident
before your departure from the area covered by the Federal Election Act.
Application forms should be immediately completed and returned - preferably by
air mail. They must reach the appropriate authority on the 21st day before
polling day at the latest, ie by 11 November 1990. Further details are given
in the leaflet which you will receive with the application form.
Where can I obtain further information?
If you have any additional questions, please contact the embassy or a
consulate of the Federal Republic of Germany in your country of residence.
A GREAT YEAR FOR GERMANY
1989
19 August: 600 GDR citizens flee to the Federal Republic of Germany from
Hungary via Austria.
10 September: Gyula Horn, the Hungarian foreign minister, makes it
possible for the GDR refugees at the embassy of the Federal Republic of
Germany in Budapest to leave the country.
30 September: 7,000 refugees leave for the West from the embassies in
Prague and Warsaw. In the days that follow 15,000 people arrive in the Federal
Republic of Germany in cars and specially chartered trains and planes.
7 October: With his last ounce of strength the SED leader Erich Honecker
celebrates the GDR's 40th anniversary. At the same time the police and state
security service combat groups of demonstrators with truncheons and tear gas.
9 October: 70,000 go onto the streets in Leipzig and declare: "We are the
people."
1 November: Czechoslovakia allows its neighbours from the GDR to enter
the country without a visa. Within a week over 50,000 people flee to West
Germany via Czechoslovakia.
4 November: Around one million people demonstrate in East Berlin.
8 November: The government and politburo in East Berlin resign.
9 November: The GDR opens its borders. The people of East and West
Berlin sing, dance, celebrate and embrace on top of the Berlin Wall. Many
chisel away pieces of the "ugliest edifice in the world".
28 November: Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl presents a ten point plan on
the realisation of German unification.
22 December: The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin is reopened.
1990
10 February: Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl travels to Moscow. The Soviet
head of state and party leader Mikhail Gorbachev assures him that the decision
of Germans to live in one state "will be respected by the USSR".
18 March: The first free and secret elections take place in the GDR. The
winner is the "Alliance for Germany", which is made up of the CDU, the German
Social Union (DSU) and Democratic Awakening (DA).
12 April: Lothar de Maiziere (CDU) is elected prime minister.
5 May: The first of a total of four rounds of "two plus four"
negotiations on the future status of the united Germany many takes place in
Bonn.
14 May: The federal government and the governments of the federal states
make 115 billion marks available to a "German unity Fund" for a period of four
and a half years.
18 May: The state treaty on economic, monetary and social union is
signed.
1 July: Economic and monetary union comes into force. The Deutschmark is
introduced in the GDR.
6 July: Negotiations on the unification treaty begin.
16 July: Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Soviet President Mikhail
Gorbachev reach agreement that a united Germany will receive full sovereignty
and be free to decide on its membership of alliances.
25 July: The governing coalition in East Berlin begins to disintegrate
due to serious disagreements about the date of German Unification. Among
others, 15 September, 14 October, 1 December and 16 December are all under
consideration.
3 August: Concerned by the GDR's serious financial situation, the
governing parties in Bonn urge rapid unification.
19 August: Federal President Richard von Weizsacker announces 2 December
as the date for all-German elections.
23 August: The People's Chamber in East Berlin decides on 3 October as
the date for the GDR's accession to the Federal Republic.
30 August: The market economy is having an effect: in August 30,000
enterprises are established in the GDR.
31 August: The German unification treaty is initialled in East Berlin.
12 September: After a late night sitting, the two plus four treaty is
signed in Moscow. As a result, the four victorious Second World War powers
will no longer exercise their rights in Germany from 3 October.
20 September: The two German parliaments vote in favour of the German
unification treaty. Large majorities are achieved.
24 September: The GDR officially leaves the Warsaw Pact.
29 September: The unification treaty, a document with one thousand pages,
comes into force.
3 October: German Unification Day is celebrated.