1971 East German general election

General elections were held in East Germany on 14 November 1971.

1971 East German general election

← 1967 14 November 1971 (1971-11-14) 1976 →
434 out of 500 seats in the Volkskammer
Turnout	98.48% ( 0.34pp)
Majority party   Leader Erich Honecker Party SED Alliance National Front Seats won 127 Seat change
Chairman of the Council of Ministers before election Willi Stoph SED Chairman of the Council of Ministers after election Willi Stoph SED

434 deputies were elected to the Volkskammer, with all of them being candidates of the single-list National Front. 584 Front candidates were put forward, with 434 being elected. The allocation of seats between member parties of the Front remained unchanged from previous elections.

Like all East German elections before the Peaceful Revolution, this election was neither free nor fair. Voters were only presented with a closed list of candidates (pre-approved by the SED Central Committee Secretariat) put forward by the National Front. The list predetermined an outcome whereby the SED had both the largest faction in the Volkskammer and a majority of its members, as almost all of the Volkskammer members elected for one of the mass organizations were also members of the SED (in this election, all but 4 out of the 165 mass organization Volkskammer members were SED members). While voters could reject the list, they would have to use the polling booth, the use of which was documented by Stasi informants located at every polling site, and had to cross out every name, as "Yes" and "No" boxes were removed after the 1950 election. Abstaining from voting was also seen as oppositional and punished. While legally permissible according to East German election laws, widespread election monitoring was not done out of fear for repression until the 1989 local elections.

Results

Party or alliance				Votes	%	Seats
						Elected	East Berlin	Total	+/–
	National Front		Socialist Unity Party of Germany	11,207,388	99.85	110	17	127	0
			Free German Trade Union Federation			60	8	68	0
			Christian Democratic Union			45	7	52	0
			Liberal Democratic Party of Germany			45	7	52	0
			National Democratic Party of Germany			45	7	52	0
			Democratic Farmers' Party of Germany			45	7	52	0
			Free German Youth			35	5	40	0
			Democratic Women's League of Germany			30	5	35	0
			Cultural Association of the GDR			19	3	22	0
Against				16,951	0.15	–	–	–	–
Total				11,224,339	100.00	434	66	500	0
Valid votes				11,224,339	99.97
Invalid/blank votes				3,196	0.03
Total votes				11,227,535	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				11,401,090	98.48
Source: IPU