at an election rally of the Alliance for Germany The Alliance for Germany announced its creation in a joint press statement by the
Christian Democratic Union (CDU),
Democratic Awakening, and
German Social Union on 5 February 1990. The
German Forum Party declined an invitation to join. The Alliance stated on 6 March that, if elected in the
general election on 18 March, the primary goal of its government would be to expedite
German reunification. The Alliance won a plurality of the votes cast in the election (48.2% in total; CDU 40.9%, DSU 6.3%, DA 0.9%), and consequently a plurality of the seats (192 of 400) in the Volkskammer. The result was a surprise to many observers, who predicted the
Social Democratic Party (SPD) to win a majority of votes and seats. The Alliance formed a coalition government with the SPD and
Liberal Democratic Party, which lasted until reunification. Several Alliance and SPD leaders in the government were disgraced when their involvement in the
Stasi became public; this included
Lothar de Maizière of the CDU, who served as minister-president of East Germany. ==Election results==