1976 East German general election

General elections were held in East Germany on 17 October 1976. Out of 591 candidates of the single-list National Front for the 500-seat Volkskammer, 500 were elected from the highest number of votes received in each of the allocated lists, and 91 who lost their elections became substitute deputies. At its first session on 29 October, the Volkskammer elected Willi Stoph as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, while Erich Honecker, General Secretary of the ruling Socialist Unity Party, was elected Chairman of the Council of State. The allocation of seats remained unchanged from previous elections.

Quick facts 434 out of 500 seats in the Volkskammer, Turnout ...

1976 East German general election

← 1971 17 October 1976 (1976-10-17) 1981 →
← outgoing members elected members →
434 out of 500 seats in the Volkskammer
Turnout	98.6% 0.1pp
Majority party   Leader Erich Honecker Party SED Alliance National Front Seats won 127 Seat change
Results of the election.
Chairman of the Council of Ministers before election Horst Sindermann SED Chairman of the Council of Ministers after election Willi Stoph SED

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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.^[1][2][3]