Members of the "Democratic Awakening" Party Handing out Leaflets at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin (March 3, 1990) On December 1, 1989, the SED’s claim to leadership was stricken from the GDR constitution, and on March 18, 1990, after forty years of undemocratic rule, the first free elections to the East German Volkskammer took place. Here, one can see members of the newly founded party Democratic Awakening (DA) distributing pamphlets in the run-up to the elections. The DA advocated the reunification of Germany, a social market economy, and the quick introduction of the Deutschmark. Together with the CDU (East) and the newly founded German Social Union (DSU), it comprised the “Alliance for Germany,” a conservative coalition that eventually emerged as the clear winner of the election.