GERMANY LOOKING WEST

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26289, 22 October 1946, Page 5

GERMANY LOOKING WEST

Evidence in Berlin Elections SOVIET PROPAGANDA FAILS Supporters Heavily Defeated (Rec. 10.30 p.m.) BERLIN, Oct. 21. In spite of a huge propaganda campaign to boost the Russian-backed Socialist Unity Party, it was beaten by both the Social Democrats and the Christian Democrats in a municipal voting return which covered a large part of Berlin. Returns in the early hours of this morning showed that the Social Democrats had secured 255,864 votes, the Christian Democrats 120,611, and the Socialist Unity Party 103,542. A number of ballot papers were marked with swastikas. German commentators described the results of the elections as representing outspoken ’ German endorsement of the political and economic policies of the Western Powers against those of the Soviet Union, says the British United Press correspondent in Berlin. The Social Democratic leader, v Dr Schumacher, declared that the results showed Kow Germany would appear without zonal frontiers. Dr Arthur Erner, the Russian-appointed Mayor of Berlin, said the vote was a funeral for the present City Council, 70 per cent, of the members of which were in the Socialist' Unity Party. Independent Socialists would in future dominate the city and borough councils. High German election officials denied that the Nazis reappeared at the elections, and estimated that not more than 20 of the 1,300,000 votes thus far counted had been marked with swastikas. r '