1966 West Besmenian parliamentary election

1966 West Besmenian legislative election

16 October 1966

First party Second party Third party   Leader Horst Lommberg Robert Baalke Erich Bölker Party Democratic Besmenia Conservative Union of Besmenia Besmenian Socialist Party Leader since 13 June 1966 21 June 1966 27 June 1966 Leader's seat District of Lichtenberg District of Hetenberg District of Berkafurt Seats won 122 105 77 Popular vote 9,164,157 7,829,571 5,753,548 Percentage 30,9% 26,4% 19,4%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Günther Meier Hermann Himmerlich Party Liberal Party of Besmenia Besmenian National Union Leader since 16 June 1966 29 July 1966 (nominated) Leader's seat District of Helmfurt District of Melmingia Seats won 48 34 Popular vote 3,558,896 2,580,199 Percentage 12% 8,7%

Results by district for the votes.

President before election Hermann Himmerlich Besmenian National Union President Horst Lommberg Democratic Besmenia

The 1966 West Besmenian legislative election was held on October 16, 1966 in the Besmenian Republic. It was the first free election in West Besmenia since 1921.

Background

File:DB1966poster.png

Election poster of the DB.

After the West Besmenian Revolution and the victory of the revolutionaries, the democratization of West Besmenia began on June 9, 1966 after Rudolf Bötte (successor to Lars Schreim) proclaimed the Besmenian Republic and appointed himself president. After many political parties were founded in June 1966 after the 1922 prohibition of parties was repealed, Bötte announced free elections for October 16th. On July 16, Bötte resigned as president. Hermann Himmerlich became his successor.

Election campaign and election programs

The election campaign for the election was short and presented the parties with major organizational challenges, because these were only recently founded. In many places civil rights activists had enforced that offices were made available to them. Both the new groups and the parties experience in election campaigns. This gap was closed by massive engagement of the East Besmenian parties. All parties in East Besmenia supported their partner parties in West Besmenia to a large extent and were thus able to more than make up for the organizational lead of the BNU. Many East Besmenian politicans, like Albrecht Neumann or Helmut Glaubrecht, took vacation to support their partner party in the West Besmenian election campaign.

The decisive factor, however, was apparently not the strength of the organization, but the credibility in the promise of an approximation of economic conditions. While FBBP chairman Jürgen Rothmann was skeptical of a reunification, SDU chairman and prime minister Johannes Schmidt took the reunification offensive.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Conservative Union of Besmenia		34,5
	Besmenian Socialist Party		29,0
	Democratic Besmenia		15,0
	New Besmenia		11,9
	Besmenian National Union		8,1
	Other parties		1,3	0
Invalid/blank votes			0,2	–
Total			100	300
Registered voters/turnout			90,7	–

Aftermatch

After the election, the two largest parties DB and KUB agreed on a joint coalition with Horst Lommberg as President and Robert Baalke as Vice President. The DB-KUB government started its work on November 8, 1966.