On March 18, 1990, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) emerged as the strongest party after the election for the East German parliament, the People’s Chamber. The conservative CDU claimed the offices of prime minister and parliamentary president. Prior to this, Sabine Bergmann-Pohl worked as a lung disease specialist in East Berlin and had been a member of the East German CDU since 1981. After the election, Bergmann-Pohl became both the president of the People’s Chamber and head of the East German state following a constitutional amendment. The election campaign in East Germany was dominated by the theme of reunification with the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). In West Germany, CDU Chancellor Helmut Kohl also made reunification a main focus of his campaign. The center-left Social Democrats (SPD) and their leader Willy Brandt had misinterpreted the mood and expected the process of consolidation between the two German states to take much longer. The majority of East German parliamentarians began working toward implementing what most citizens of the GDR expected of them, but there were significant differences among the parties regarding how to achieve this goal. The election outcome in East Germany led to a coalition between the conservative CDU and the liberal FDP. The first People’s Chamber was often chaotic, with many representatives lacking parliamentary experience. However, the parliamentarians had to make decisions on very weighty matters, including involving the West German government in the legal process of reunification. Premier Lothar de Maiziere’s government also received help from the leader of the Party of Democratic Socialism, Gregor Gysi, despite the PDS’s opposition to reunification. The work of the first freely-elected People’s Chamber ended on October 3, 1990, the day East and West Germany were reunited, fulfilling the wishes of the GDR’s citizens. This marked the end of the division of Germany and Europe that resulted from World War II.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/a-look-back-east-germany-s-first-freely-elected-parliament/a-5424328?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf