Politics of East Germany

The German Democratic Republic, commonly known in English as East Germany or the GDR, was a unitary communist state that existed from 7 October 1949 to 3 October 1990. Politics were dominated by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), which ruled the country for most of its existence. The Constitution of East Germany created a people's democratic state from 1949 until 1968, when a new communist state constitution formalised many of the communist state institutions and governing principles, including the "leading role" of the SED.

East Germany was officially governed by a unified state power system with all state powers vested in a supreme state organ of power known as the Volkskammer. The State Council (from 1960) acted as the permanent organ of the supreme state organ of power, the Council of Ministers as the supreme executive and administrative organ, and the Supreme Court as the supreme judicial organ. This system was modelled on the Soviet Union's, and state organs worked under the leadership of the SED, and more specifically, the SED's Politburo.

The SED relinquished control during Die Wende in 1989/1990 and rebranded itself as the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) before the 1990 East German general election, the only free election in East Germany, winning 16% of the vote. East Germany ceased to exist following German reunification seven months later. The PDS eventually merged with the Electoral Alternative for Labor and Social Justice to form the modern Die Linke in 2007.