On October 15, 1950 - more than a year after the founding of the GDR - the first elections to the Volkskammer took place. In the Federal Republic, they are regarded as a farce.
This is also the view of Kurt Schumacher, Chairman of the SPD and leader of the opposition in the West German Bundestag. Schumacher clearly positioned the SPD: When the SPD and KPD were forcibly merged to form the SED in the East, he sharply criticized this. His radio broadcast two days before the Volkskammer elections was correspondingly harsh.