opposition Between October and December, local groups of the SDP were formed in different towns. From 7 December 1989, two representatives of the party participated in the Round Table talks between Prime Minister Hans Modrow, who had become the de facto leader of East Germany after the SED surrendered its monopoly of power a week earlier, and various opposition groups. The talks resulted in representatives of the opposition groups joining Modrow's cabinet as ministers without portfolio until free elections to the People's Chamber could be held. On 29 January, Walter Romberg became the first Social Democrat appointed to the cabinet. On 13 January 1990, the party's first Conference of Delegates assembled in Berlin and decided to change the short form of the party name to SPD, to conform with (and profit from association with) the West German SPD. At the same time, party organisation was created at the level of districts and regions. Elections were scheduled for 18 March. Three weeks before that date, the SPD held its first party congress from 22 to 25 February 1990 in Leipzig. The congress decided on a basic manifesto and a statute of the party and also elected an executive board, with Böhme serving as party chairman and Meckel as one of his deputies. The election yielded disappointing results for the Social Democrats. Instead of gaining an absolute majority, as they had expected, they won 21.9% of the vote, resulting in 88 seats and second place. The party fared best in the districts of Berlin (34.9%), Potsdam (34.4%) and Frankfurt (Oder) (31.9%), and by far worst in the district of Dresden (9.7%). When the new parliament constituted itself, Social Democrat Reinhard Höppner was elected vice-president of the People's Chamber. In government After internal debates the party members agreed to coalition talks with the winner of the election, the centre-right Alliance for Germany, consisting of the CDU, the DSU and Democratic Awakening, as well as with the Alliance of Free Democrats, an alliance of liberal parties. On 12 April, Lothar de Maizière of the CDU formed a grand coalition cabinet including six Social Democrats, among them Markus Meckel (foreign affairs), Regine Hildebrandt (social issues) and Walter Romberg (finance). The SPD initially supported de Maizière's policy of speedy reunification with West Germany, but left the cabinet on 20 August. Ibrahim Böhme was slated to have been a senior minister in the government. However, during the