ELECTIONS ON SUNDAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27157, 12 August 1949, Page 7

ELECTIONS ON SUNDAY

Western Zone Of Germany Refugees And Former Nazis To Vote NZPA—Copyright Rec. 9 p.m. LONDON, Aug. 10. The Berlin correspondent of the Associated Press says former Nazis an'd embittered refugees make up nearly one-third of the 30,000,000 Germans eligible to vote next Sunday in West Germany’s first elections, Western Allied officials laid to-day. Many of them will vote for candidates of extremist parties. In some areas of Bavaria, in the American zone, and in SchleswigHolstein, in the British zone, refugees outnumber the local inhabitants. In North Rhine-Westphalia,' in the British zone, 11 refugees are running as independents. There the extremist German Rightist Party has directed much of its appeal to refugees. This party was banned by the British for rallies in which members gave the Nazi salute and sang Nazi songs, but the ban was lifted early this year. Allied officials believe that many former Nazis will vote for one of the two big West German parties—the Conservative Christian Democrats or the Left Wing Social Democrats. “They will try to climb on the bandwagon in order -to get a toehold in the new German government,” one official said.