Simplify the following text for a Grade 11 native English-speaking person.
Original: His cousin Lothar de MaiziÃ re is also a CDU politician and was the last , and only democratically elected , Premier of the German Democratic Republic , who later served as Federal Minister of Special Affairs in the Kohl government .
Simplified: Karl 's cousin Lothar de MaiziÃ re was the only democratically elected Prime Minister of the German Democratic Republic .