Communists, Foes Reach Agreement : East Germany: An interim coalition will govern until free elections are held in March, nearly two months early.

The East German government and opposition leaders agreed Sunday to hold the country’s first free elections March 18, nearly two months earlier than scheduled.

They also agreed to form a caretaker national unity coalition until the elections are held.

The decision, announced after seven hours of negotiations, signals a retreat in Communist power and indicates that the country’s leaders feel it is vital to hold elections before anti-Communist turmoil gets out of control.

Under the agreement, a “government of national responsibility” would be formed, taking in all parties and opposition groups involved in the so-called round-table forum that currently charts East Germany’s democratic evolution, said Martin Ziegler, a Lutheran Church representative who helped moderate the talks.

He said each of the more than 15 parties and groups will provide a minister in a caretaker Cabinet without assigned portfolios until the elections. Communists hold 15 of the 27 posts in the current Cabinet.

Proposals for the new Cabinet’s makeup are to be submitted by Wednesday so that a transitional government for steering the country to voting day can be formed in early February, according to Ziegler.

Ibrahim Boehme, head of the opposition Social Democrats, said the elections were advanced from May 6 because no consensus could be reached on an opposition demand that Cabinet ministers suspend party allegiances for a grand coalition. The demand was made last week.

“So, we decided to move up the elections. This was a favorable solution. . . ,” Boehme told reporters.

Prime Minister Hans Modrow, a Communist, said Sunday night’s agreement will ensure “free and secret elections.”

“The phase of (governing) responsibility has begun,” he told reporters before leaving the government guest house where the negotiations were held.

Modrow, the Communists’ leading reformer and one of its few nationally respected figures, will remain prime minister, according to Karl-Heinz Duke, another Protestant official who helped moderate the talks.

Although coalition Cabinet members will not have specific portfolios, each will each have a vote in making necessary governing decisions until election day.

The formation of an all-party coalition was announced less than three months after Communist Party reformers replaced the Stalinist elite, who were ousted by a pro-democracy movement. Sunday’s accord will bring many of the movement’s leaders into government.

Opposition groups Friday had accepted Modrow’s offer of a role in a crisis Cabinet to calm growing anti-Communist street protests and guide the country to its first real elections. But they demanded that such a government be nonpartisan.