Chamber of the People (German Democratic Republic)

The Chamber of the People (in German: People’s chamber ) It was the monochound parliament (since 1958, when the Country chamber – Chamber of Countries ) of the German Democratic Republic. Since the foundation in 1949 and until the first free elections of 18 March 1990, all members of the People’s chamber They were elected on a list of parties headed by the Unified Socialist Party of Germany (Sed), called the national front. Despite the appearance of a multi-partic system, all the parties were actually controlled by the dominant SED. In addition, some seats were assigned to various mass -affiliated mass organizations, such as free German youth.

The People’s chamber It was formed on October 7, 1949 in East Berlin from German People’s Council . The first parliamentary elections took place, outside the time and for an electoral system other than the originally expected one, on October 15, 1950. The 1950 elections, like all elections, took place on the basis of the single list drawn up by the Congress of the front National, headed by the Unified Socialist Party of Germany (Sed) and representing the political system of the Democratic Republic.

The division of parliamentary seats was prefixed, on the basis of a conception according to which the deputies did not represent the individual citizen, as in the western tradition, because they are equipped with a political mandate expressed by the voters, but because they socially reflect the numerical weight of the classes components l ‘electorate. At the Sed, which was to represent the influential working class, 25% of parliamentary seats were therefore assigned ex officio, to the other four parties (CDU, DBD, LDPD, NDPD) 10.4% each, to the unions (FDGB) 13.4%, 8% both to the youth organization of free German youth (FDJ) and to the Democratic Association of Women (DFD), while the remaining seats were the prerogative of the union of cultural associations, including artists, scientists and university teachers. ^{[first] [2]}

Wilhelm Pieck (1876-1960) was elected in 1949 by People’s chamber President of the German Democratic Republic. After his death in 1960, the function of president was succeeded by that of the RDT State Council.

Volkskammer’s votes were made public only in the conflict period, in March 1972, when in the vote on the law for the interruption of pregnancy and the introduction of the long-term solution of abortions, 14 deputies of the Christian-demoral union agreed against the law through prior consultation with the party management. These contrary votes and some abstentions, however, remained without effect on the legislative process and on the end of the solution, increasing the legitimacy of the People’s chamber , because in this case the actual public impression argued the law.

The People’s chamber He generally met two to four times a year, the meetings were basically public pursuant to the 6 procedure regulations. They met from 1950 to 1976 in the Langenbeck-Virchhow-Haus. Since 1976 they participated in their meetings in the small newly built room, at the Palast Der Republik. The following commissions were present:

• Commission for General Affairs (1950-1963)
• Representative commission for the local population (1956-1963)
• Commission for economic and financial problems (1950-1963)
• Foreign Affairs Commission (1950-1990)
• Committee for work and health (1950-1958)
• Commission for Health Assistance (1958-1990)
• Commission for work and social policies (1958-1990)
• Commerce and supply commission (1963-1990)
• Commission for petitions and for the entrances of citizens (1950-1990)
• Commission for Regulation (1950-1990)
• Commission for conditional freedoms (1950-1963), subsequently task absorbed by the Council of State of the German Democratic Republic
• Budget and Finance Commission (1950-1990)
• Committee credentials (1963-1990)
• Youth Committee (1950-1990)
• Commission for Justice (1950-1963)
• National Defense Commission (1963-1990)
• Commission for industry, construction and transport (until 1990)
• Commission for agriculture and silviculture (1950-1990)
• Commission for education and culture (1954-1958)
• Commission for Culture (1958-1990)
• Commission for public education (1958-1990)
• Legal Commission (1950-1963)
• Elections Commission (1950-1963)
• Constitutional Commission
• Constitutional and legal commission (1950-1990)

The People’s chamber Until 1963 he had 400 seats, which were later raised to 500, and then returned to 400 in 1990. For the V Legislature (1967-1971) there were 66 representatives of the People’s chamber by consultative, which were ordinary parliamentarians. Since the end of 1958 they participated in the meetings and works of the Committee 100 deputies, subsequently 200 candidates who participated as successors.

On the basis of the predetermination of the seats by the Congress of the National Front, composed of the SED, its satellite parties and the various mass organizations, the people’s room was composed as follows:

After 1989, a city protest was triggered with a consequence of a political turning point in the Rdt, where the parliamentary elections were held free on March 18, 1990. The power of Parliament now corresponded for the first time to the parliaments of bourgeois democracies. There People’s chamber he created the Country introduction law , which guaranteed the creation of new federated states that would have been part of the Federal Republic of Germany once the annexation is implemented. The RDT set on October 3, 1990, given by German reunification.

During the inaugural meeting of April 5, at the Bureau of the People’s chamber The powers of the Council of State were entrusted. On the same day to the Section President of the People’s chamber , Sabine Bergmann-Pohl (CDU), the power of head of state was entrusted to the German Democratic Republic: it was the last before the cessation of the RDT and the reunification with the RFG.

On April 12, 1990 he was elected president of the Council of Ministers of the German Democratic Republic Lothar de Maizière (CDU), voted with 9 abstentions, 108 votes against and 265 in favor. The deputies subsequently confirmed the blockage to the De Maizière government.

In its historic meeting of 23 August 1990 the People’s chamber He decided to adhere to the RDT to the Federal Republic of Germany, which would take place on 3 October 1990 together with the end of the Democratic Republic as a subject of international law.

The President of the Chamber (in German: President of the People’s Chamber ) He was head of the People’s chamber and exercised the functions of alternate president to replace the President of the German Democratic Republic in any case in which he had not been able to carry out them, a function made actually inoperative by the creation of the Council of State, but relying to the dissolution of the latter, when Bergmann- Pohl carried out this task until the suppression of the State on October 3, 1990.