Democratic Farmers' Party of Germany
# Democratic Farmers' Party of Germany

The Democratic Farmers' Party of Germany (German: Demokratische Bauernpartei Deutschlands, DBD) was an East German political party. The DBD was founded in 1948. It had 52 representatives in the Volkskammer, as part of the National Front. The DBD participated in all GDR cabinets (with the exception of the last GDR cabinet). The founding of the DBD was an attempt by the SED to weaken the influence of CDU/LDPD in the rural community by establishing a party loyal to the SED. The leadership cadre came mainly from the ranks of the SED. In the late 1980s, the party had 117,000 members.

After the fall of Berlin Wall, the party initially tried to find itself a niche as ecological agrarian party, but the first free Volkskammer election (1990) netted it only nine seats. In 1990 the DBD merged with the Christian Democratic Union.

## International contacts

The DBD had friendly relations with peasants' parties in other Eastern Bloc countries. It had close contacts with the Polish United People's Party (Zjednoczone Stronnictwo Ludowe, ZSL) and the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union (Bǔlgarski Zemedelski Naroden Sǔyuz, BZNS). Besides that, there were some contacts with farmers' associations in West Germany. They had also some contacts with agrarian parties in Finland (Centre Party) and in Sweden (Centre Party).

## Electoral history

### Volkskammer elections

| Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/– |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1949 | as part of Democratic Bloc | as part of Democratic Bloc | 15 / 330 | – |
| 1950 | as part of National Front | as part of National Front | 30 / 400 | 15 |
| 1954 | as part of National Front | as part of National Front | 45 / 400 | 15 |
| 1958 | as part of National Front | as part of National Front | 45 / 400 | |
| 1963 | as part of National Front | as part of National Front | 45 / 434 | |
| 1967 | as part of National Front | as part of National Front | 45 / 434 | |
| 1971 | as part of National Front | as part of National Front | 45 / 434 | |
| 1976 | as part of National Front | as part of National Front | 45 / 434 | |
| 1981 | as part of National Front | as part of National Front | 52 / 500 | 7 |
| 1986 | as part of National Front | as part of National Front | 52 / 500 | |
| 1990 | 251,226 | 2.2% | 9 / 400 | 43 |

* ↑ The 1,400 elected members of the Third German People's Congress selected the members of the second German People's Council.

## Chairmen of the DBD

* Ernst Goldenbaum, 1948–1982
* Ernst Mecklenburg, 1982–1987
* Günther Maleuda, 1987–1990
* Ulrich Junghanns, 1990
