"Communist one-party rule was followed by multi-party politics; while constitutional change gathered pace. On 1 February 1990, Hans Modrow, the new East German Premier, unveiled a plan for a German-German confederation as part of a United Fatherland. Gorbachev responded to Modrow that a unified Germany was acceptable only if it was demilitarised and neutral, but the Americans were unwilling to accept the Soviet proposal for the mutual withdrawal of troops from Germany. Free elections, held in East Germany on 18 March, demonstrated the lack of support for Communism: the East German CDU under Lothar de Mazière won 48.1 per cent of the vote and the SPD 21.8 per cent. Once democratised, Communism had become redundant, and the same process affected the very state of East Germany. Currency union with West Germany took effect on 1 July, East Germany came to an end as a separate state on 3 October, and all-German elections followed on 2 December 1990."