National Front of the German Democratic Republic

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The National Front of the German Democratic Republic (German: Nationale Front der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik) was a coalition of parties and mass organisations from 1950 to 1990 which governed the German Democratic Republic (GDR), informally known as East Germany. Although it was presented as a broad alliance, real political authority in the country rested with the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). The National Front's primary role was to manage electoral processes through a single list of approved candidates (Einheitsliste) for the Volkskammer. The National Front formalized the Democratic Bloc-arrangement, established in 1945, into a legal organization with, at last count, 1,409 employees and a leadership apparatus. After the Second World War, the Soviet Union permitted the formation of four parties, but in 1946 the Communist Party forced a merger with the Social Democrats to create the SED. Other parties such as the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Liberal...

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