Alliance 90
Encyclopedia
Alliance 90 was an alliance of three non-Communist political groups in East Germany. It merged with the German Green Party in 1993 to form Alliance '90/The Greens
Alliance '90/The Greens
Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir...

.

Bündnis 90 was formed in February 1990 by Neues Forum
New Forum
New Forum was a political movement in East Germany formed in the months leading up to the collapse of the East German state. It was founded in September 1989 and was the first independent political movement to be recognised by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany-led state on 8 November 1989...

, Demokratie Jetzt
Democracy Now (East Germany)
Democracy Now was a political movement in East Germany founded in the wake of the collapse of Communism that wished to maintain a human, democratic version of socialism in opposition to what they saw as "western consumer society". In 1990 they joined Alliance 90 with New Forum and the Initiative...

 and the Initiative Frieden und Menschenrechte
Initiative for Peace and Human Rights
The Initiative for Peace and Human Rights was the oldest opposition group in East Germany. It was founded at the beginning of 1986 and was independent of the churches and state...

. It received 2.9% of the vote in the 1990 Volkskammer
Volkskammer
The People's Chamber was the unicameral legislature of the German Democratic Republic . From its founding in 1949 until the first free elections on 18 March 1990, all members of the Volkskammer were elected on a slate controlled by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany , called the National Front...

 elections. For the first all-German elections it formed a joint list with the East German Green Party
East German Green Party
The Green Party in East Germany was founded in February 1990. At the first free Volkskammer elections it stood with the Independent Women's Association and received 2.0% of the vote. They received 8 seats but could not resolve how to allocate them...

. It was this coalition that merged with the West German Green Party in 1993.

History

On 7 February 1990, the Neue Forum (“New Forum”), the Initiative Frieden und Menschenrechte (“Peace and Human Rights Initiative”) and Demokratie Jetzt (“Democracy Now”) groups agreed upon the creation of the strategic partnership Bündnis 90 (“Alliance ’90”) for the German Volkskammer
Volkskammer
The People's Chamber was the unicameral legislature of the German Democratic Republic . From its founding in 1949 until the first free elections on 18 March 1990, all members of the Volkskammer were elected on a slate controlled by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany , called the National Front...

elections. On the 18th March 1990, in the next and final free election of the former East Germany, the electoral alliance received 2.9% of the vote, thus securing 12 seats. By far the best result for Alliance ’90 was in constituency of Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 with 6.3%. In the remaining constituencies results ranged from 1.6% in Neubrandenburg
Neubrandenburg
Neubrandenburg is a city in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is located in the southeastern part of the state, on the shore of a lake called the Tollensesee ....

 to 3.8% in Potsdam
Potsdam
Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....

. Together with the eight electees from the “Green Party in the GDR”, they created the Fraktion Bündnis 90/Grüne
Alliance '90/The Greens
Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir...

(“Alliance ’90/Greens Party”).

In the East German Landtag
Landtag
A Landtag is a representative assembly or parliament in German-speaking countries with some legislative authority.- Name :...

 election on the 14th October 1990 the differently-comprised electoral alliances made their entry into every Landtag except Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, where the Neue Forum did not participate in the alliance. In Brandenburg
Brandenburg
Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...

, the three populist groups of the Bündnis 90 took office alone. In other states, the Greens also successfully took part in the electoral alliances. In Brandburg from 1990 until 1994, Bündnis 90 formed part of a traffic light coalition
Traffic light coalition
Traffic light coalition is a term originating in German politics where it describes a coalition of the Social Democratic Party , the Free Democratic Party , and The Greens. It arises from the fact that the parties' traditional colours, respectively red, yellow, and green, resemble the normal...

 with the SPD
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...

 and FDP
Free Democratic Party (Germany)
The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government...

.

In the 12th Bundestag
Bundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...

 election on the 2nd December 1990, the first after the German reunification, 6.1% of voters in the Eastern electoral area (1.2% across Germany) cast their Zweitstimme (the vote for a party, as opposed to for a person) for the group Bündnis 90/Grüne – BürgerInnenbewegung (“Alliance ’90/Greens – Populist Movement”), that entered into the German Bundestag with eight East German electees: Klaus-Dieter Feige, Ingrid Köppe, Gerd Poppe, Christina Schenk, Werner Schulz, Wolfgang Ullmann, Konrad Weiß und Vera Wollenberger. Werner Schultz took over the function of Speaker of the Bundestag
Bundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...

 group, which he held for the entirety fo the legislative period. Its West German partners, the Greens, fell short of election to the parliament.

On the 21st September 1991, the party Bündnis 90 was founded, which brought together parts of the Neue Forum, Demokratie Jetzt and the Initiative Frieden und Menschenrechte. On 14 May 1993 came the agreement create the union of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen with the Greens which had been a cross-German party since the end of 1990.

One part of the Brandenburg state alliance advocated against a unification with the Greens, including Matthias Platzeck, Günter Nooke, Ute Platzeck, Peter Schüler, Manfred Kruczek and Gerd Gebhardt. However, they were unsuccessful in their case and founded the BürgerBündnis (“Citizens’ Alliance”), headed by Günter Nooke, Matthias Platzeck und Wolfgang Pohl.

The party Bündnis 90/Die Grünen in Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....

had already been established on the 27th September 1991, one and a half years before the unification at federal level.
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