Political Parties

CDU stands for Christian Democratic Union of Germany (“Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands”). CSU is short for Christian Social Union (“Christlich-Soziale Union”). CDU and CSU work together in a single group in the German parliament, with CSU operating only in the state of Bavaria and CDU covering the other 15 states of Germany.

Black is known to be the colour of the CDU. It was founded after the Second World War as various conservative German groups and associations came together to shape a unified political party. The CDU, which is classified as a people’s party (“Volkspartei”), attracts voters across all social classes and groups.

The CDU has around 431,900 members (as of 2016), but the CSU is considerably smaller(around 142,400 members as of 2016). Its colour is light blue. Although many see the two effectively a single political body, CDU and CSU are not on the same page on all the issues, namely CSU's strict positions on immigration.

SPD stands for Social Democratic Party of Germany (“Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands”). Traditionally known as the working class's party, SPD gradually moved from an initial leftist labourers' association to a party ready to shed its anti-capitalist views in favour of entering a coalition with conservative parties. The party currently has around 432,700 members (as of 2016).

SPD is Germany's oldest political party. Alongside CDU, it is classified as a people’s party (“Volkspartei”) which means that it has a lot of members and supporters. Social justice and the betterment of social infrastructure are among SPD’s mottoes. Red is known to be the colour of SPD.

Once known as the party of activists and hippies, the Green party („Bündnis 90/Die Grüne”) is now a party of the middle class, with only 10% of its members under 35 years old. The party came out of post-war movements aimed at protecting the environment and social rights in the 80's. As many of these ideas eventually became mainstream in the political sphere, the Green Party itself shed some of its idealism in favour of pragmatism and political gain.

The Green Party advocates for gender equality and is co-chaired by a male and a female politician. Its colour is known to be green and it has around 61,600 members (as of 2016).

FDP stands for Free Democratic Party (“Freie Demokratische Partei”), which is represented by the colour yellow. Founded in 1948, FDP is known for its liberal agendas, promotion of free market economics and advocating privatisation. As a pro-business party, its major base consists of business owners and other affluent groups, and not so many of the working class. The FDP has around 53,900 members (as of 2016).

In the last federal election in 2013, FDP suffered a massive blow when it failed – for the first time in its history – to win the 5 percent threshold to qualify for list representation, but in 2017 it was voted back in.

The Left Party (“Die Linke”) has its roots in the dissolved Socialist Unity Party (SED), which ruled German Democratic Republic (GDR) before its reunification with the West in 1990. It has around 58,900 members (as of 2016) and its official colour is red, but magenta is often used to differentiate it from the SPD.

The Left Party still heavily relies on votes from people living in East Germany. In the Western states, as the polls show, it is often young people who vote for it to express their disenchantment with traditional parties. The Left Party, despite its presence in local, state and federal politics, has never been part of a federal coalition government. 

AfD stands for Alternative for Germany („Alternative für Deutschland“). It was originally founded as a Eurosceptic party against Germany's support of failing economies in the European Union. Eventually it transformed into the anti-migrant, anti-Islam, populist party it is today. Light blue is the known as the colour of AfD. The party has around 26,400 members (as of 2016).

In 2015, the AfD rapidly gained popularity among voters who were concerned about Angela Merkel's refugee politics. Criminal charges have been brought against a number of AfD officials as a result of hate speech. A number of AfD supporters are members of right-wing extremists groups which promote anti-constitutional agendas. They are currently under observation by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (“Bundesverfassungsschutz”).  The party is also presently dealing with infightings and allegations of financial wrongdoings. 

At the Bundestag election on September 24, 2017, the AfD gained 12.6 percent of the electorate votes and thus entered the Bundestag for the first time. The official colour of  AfD is light blue, but some think it should be known with the colour brown. Since 1925, Brown has been considered to be the colour of the right-wing movement. Brown has been the official colour and symbol of the Nazis.