List of political parties in Germany

Germany
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This is a list of political parties in Germany.

The Parliament of Germany, the Bundestag, has a plural multi-party system, with two major parties, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), with its sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) in the same parliamentary group, also known as CDU/CSU or the Union.

Germany also has a number of minor parties, most importantly The Left, and Alliance '90/The Greens. The federal government of Germany usually consisted of a coalition of a major and a minor party, most typically CDU/CSU and Free Democratic Party (FDP), or a 'red-green alliance' of the SPD and Greens. From 1966 to 1969, from 2005 to 2009 and again since 2013, the federal government consisted of a Grand Coalition.[1] In 2013, the FDP was voted out of the national Parliament, and in the following months also out of some state Parliaments such that it is not participating in any governments any longer.

Coalitions in the Bundestag and state legislators are often described by party colors. Party colors are the Social Democratic Party being red, the Alliance '90/The Greens green, the Free Democratic Party yellow, the Left dark red, red or purple, and the CDU/CSU black or blue.[2][3]

The parties

Parties represented in the Bundestag or the European Parliament

Logo Name Abbr. Leader Ideology MdBs MEPs Political Position EP-group Notes
Christian Democratic Union of Germany
Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands		 CDU Angela Merkel Christian democracy,[4] Liberal conservatism[4] 255 29 Centre-right EPP [A]
Link to logo Christian Social Union in Bavaria
Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayern		 CSU Horst Seehofer Christian democracy,[4] Conservatism,[4] Regionalism[4] 56 5 Centre-right[5][6][7] EPP
Social Democratic Party of Germany
Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands		 SPD Sigmar Gabriel Social democracy[4] 193 27 Centre-left S&D
The Left
Die Linke		 LINKE Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger Democratic socialism,[4]
Left-wing populism		 64 7 Left-wing GUE/NGL
Alliance '90/The Greens
Bündnis 90/Die Grünen		 GRÜNE Simone Peter and Cem Özdemir Green politics[4] 63 11 Centre-left Greens/EFA
Liberal Conservative Reformers
Liberal-Konservative Reformer		 LKR Bernd Lucke Euroscepticism,
Conservativism,
Economic liberalism		 0 5 Centre-right ECR
Free Democratic Party
Freie Demokratische Partei		 FDP Christian Lindner Liberalism,[4] Classical liberalism[8][9] 0 3 Centre-right ALDE
Alternative for Germany
Alternative für Deutschland		 AfD Frauke Petry and Jörg Meuthen Euroscepticism,[10] National conservatism,[11] Right-wing populism[12] 0 2 Right-wing EFDD / ENF
Free Voters
Freie Wähler		 FREIE WÄHLER Hubert Aiwanger Populism, Localism, Direct Democracy, Economic liberalism, Liberal conservatism 0 1 Centre-right ALDE
Pirate Party Germany
Piratenpartei Deutschland		 PIRATEN Stefan Körner Pirate politics, Social liberalism[11] 0 1 Centre to Centre-left Greens/EFA
National Democratic Party of Germany
Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands		 NPD Frank Franz German nationalism, Pan-Germanism, Anti-immigration 0 1 Far-right[10] None
Family Party of Germany
Familien-Partei Deutschlands		 FAMILIE Maria Hartmann Social conservatism[10] 0 1 Centre-right ECR
Ecological Democratic Party
Ökologisch-Demokratische Partei		 ÖDP Sebastian Frankenberger Green conservatism[10] 0 1 Centre-right Greens/EFA
Die PARTEI
Partei für Arbeit, Rechtsstaat, Tierschutz, Elitenförderung und basisdemokratische Initiative		 Die PARTEI Martin Sonneborn Satire 0 1 Apolitical None
A The CDU and CSU form the CDU/CSU group in the Bundestag; CSU runs only in Bavaria, CDU elsewhere.

One German MEP is independent, member of the GUE-NGL-group in the European Parliament and was elected as a candidate of the Human Environment Animal Protection-party (better known as Tierschutzpartei).

Parties represented in state parliaments

Logo Name Abbr. Leader Ideology Elected in State (Seats) Position Notes
South Schleswig Voters' Association
Südschleswigscher Wählerverband		 SSW Flemming Meyer Regionalism, ethnic minority politics, Social liberalism[13] Schleswig-Holstein (3) Centre-left [A]
Citizens in Rage
Bürger in Wut		 BIW Jan Timke Right-wing populism Bremen (1) Right-wing
United Civil Movements of Brandenburg / Free Voters
Brandenburger Vereinigte Bürgerbewegungen / Freie Wähler		 BVB / FW Péter Vida Localism, Direct democracy Brandenburg (3) Centre-left
A Represents the Danish and Frisian minorities. Not subject to the general requirement of passing a 5% vote threshold.

Minor parties

Historical parties

Parties existing up to World War I

Logo Name Abbr. Ideology
Bavarian Peasants' League BB
Centre Party Zentrum
Christian Social Party CSP
Democratic Union DV
Free Conservative Party FKP
Free-minded People's Party FVP
Free-minded Union FV
General German Workers' Association ADAV
German Conservative Party DKP
German Fatherland Party
German-Hanoverian Party DHP
German People's Party DtVP
German Progress Party DFP
German Free-minded Party DFP
Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany USPD
Liberal Union LV
National Liberal Party NLP
National-Social Association NSV
Progressive People's Party FVP
Social Democratic Party of Germany SPD
Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany SDAP

Parties in Weimar Republic

Defunct parties in (former) West Germany

Parties banned by the Constitutional Court

Parties in (former) East Germany

Bloc parties in the socialist state (1949–1989)

During transition (1989–90)

Parties founded from 1989

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.dw-world.de/popups/popup_printcontent/0,,1647406,00.html
  2. ↑ "Political parties form colorful spectrum in Germany". Deutsche Welle. 2009-08-18. Retrieved 2009-09-12.
  3. ↑ The Green party: Getting used to opposition, Deutsche Welle, 2009-08-24, retrieved 2009-10-12, This made a so-called Jamaica coalition with the Christian Democratic Union and the Free Democratic Party impossible.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Parties and Elections in Europe: The database about parliamentary elections and political parties in Europe, by Wolfram Nordsieck
  5. ↑ Christina Boswell; Dan Hough (2009). Politicizing migration: Opportunity or liability for the centre-right in Germany. Immigration and Integration Policy in Europe: Why Politics – and the Centre-Right – matter. Routledge. pp. 18, 21.
  6. ↑ Klaus Detterbeck (2012). Multi-Level Party Politics in Western Europe. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 105.
  7. ↑ Margret Hornsteiner; Thomas Saalfeld (2014). Parties and the Party System. Developments in German Politics. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 80.
  8. ↑ George C. Lodge; Ezra F. Vogel (1987). Ideology and National Competitiveness: An Analysis of Nine Countries. Harvard Business Press. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-87584-147-2.
  9. ↑ Russell A. Berman (2010). Freedom Or Terror: Europe Faces Jihad. Hoover Press. p. 110. ISBN 978-0-8179-1114-0.
  10. 1 2 3 4 William T Daniel (2015). Career Behaviour and the European Parliament: All Roads Lead Through Brussels?. Oxford University Press. p. 135. ISBN 978-0-19-871640-2.
  11. 1 2 Simon Franzmann (2015). "The Failed Struggle for Office Instead of Votes". In Gabriele D'Ottavio; Thomas Saalfeld. Germany After the 2013 Elections: Breaking the Mould of Post-Unification Politics?. Ashgate. pp. 166–167. ISBN 978-1-4724-4439-4.
  12. ↑ Frank Decker (2015). "Follow-up to the Grand Coalition: The Germany Party System before and after the 2013 Federal Election". In Eric Langenbacher. The Merkel Republic: An Appraisal. Berghahn Books. pp. 34–39. ISBN 978-1-78238-896-8.
  13. ↑ José Magone (2011). Contemporary European Politics: A Comparative Introduction. Routledge. p. 392.
  14. ↑ , Retrieved 2016 March 05.
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