THE MOST SERIOUS BLOW

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26290, 23 October 1946, Page 7

THE MOST SERIOUS BLOW

DEFEATED IN SOVIET SECTOR (Rec. 8 p.m) LONDON, Oct. 21. Berlin’s municipal politicians are busy planning a new city government, says Reuter’s Berlin correspondent. The Social Democrats, who were more successful than their most optimistic supporters expected, are likely to come to a working arrangement with the next largest party the Christian Democrats. The Socialist Unity Party is expected to make another attempt at fusion or collaboration on the grounds of working-class solidarity. The Socialist Unity leaders called a conference with leading Russian officials, after the full extent of the Democrats’ win was known. It is understood that the Russians made it clear that they were surprised and disappointed, and the meeting is reported to have been lively. The Socialist Unity Party suffered its most serious blow when it was defeated in the Russians’ sector as well as the other three sectors. It is believed that the large proportion of women voters, to whom the Unity Party particularly addressed its Rus-sian-assisted propaganda campaign, was largely responsible for the party's defeat. Unity leaders are now resigned to the end of the flow of preelection gifts from the Russians. Some express the fear that the election result may influence the Russian attitude in the matter of supplies of food and power for the city from the producing areas in the Russian zone. The Unity Party lost all six boroughs in the Russian sector, and in many boroughs of the British and American sectors it was well behind even the minor parties. The official results for Berlin, still subject to revision, are as follows: — Social Democrats .. 945,407 Christian Democrats 431,174 Socialist Unity .. .. 382,286 Liberal Democrats .. 181,241 The unofficial final results for the Russian zone in the provincial elections are:— Socialist Unity .. 4,658,925 Liberal Democrats .. 2,410,146 Christian Democrats 2,398,035 Other parties .. 319,426 The Social Democrats, who were banned in the Russian zone, claim that Berlin showed what the result would have been if the party had been allowed a free campaign in the Russian zone.