Christian Democratic Union of Germany

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The Christian Democratic Union of Germany (Template:Langx Script error: No such module "IPA"., CDU Script error: No such module "IPA".) is a Christian democratic[1] and conservative[2] political party in Germany. It is the major party of the centre-right[3] in German politics.[4] Friedrich Merz has been federal chairman of the CDU since 31 January 2022,[5] and has served as the Chancellor of Germany since 6 May 2025.

The CDU is the largest party in the Bundestag, the German federal legislature, with 208 out of 630 seats, having won 28.5% of votes in the 2025 federal election. It forms the CDU/CSU Bundestag faction, also known as the Union, with its Bavarian counterpart, the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU). The group's parliamentary leader has been Jens Spahn since 5 May 2025.

Founded in 1945 as an interdenominational Christian party, the CDU effectively succeeded the pre-Nazi era Catholic Centre Party, with many former members joining the party, including its first leader Konrad Adenauer. The party also included politicians of other backgrounds, including liberals and conservatives.[6] As a result, the party claims to represent "Christian-social, liberal and conservative" elements.[7] The CDU is generally pro-European in outlook.[8][9] Black is the party's customary and historical electoral colour. Other colours include red for the logo, orange for the flag, and black-red-gold for the corporate design.[10]

The CDU leads the federal government in a grand coalition with the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), after returning as the largest party in the 2025 federal election. It previously led the federal government from 1949 to 1969, 1982 to 1998, and 2005 to 2021. Germany's three longest-serving post-war Chancellors have all come from the CDU, specifically: Helmut Kohl (1982–1998), Angela Merkel (2005–2021), and Konrad Adenauer (1949–1963). The party also currently leads the governments of seven of Germany's sixteen states.

The CDU is a member of the Centrist Democrat International, the International Democracy Union, and the European People's Party (EPP). It is the largest party in the EPP with 23 MEPs. Ursula von der Leyen, the current President of the European Commission, is also a member of the CDU.

History

Founding period

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Immediately following the end of World War II and the foreign occupation of Germany, simultaneous yet unrelated meetings began occurring throughout the country, each with the intention of planning a Christian-democratic party. Consequently, the CDU was established in Berlin on 26 June 1945 and in Rheinland and Westfalen in September of the same year.

The founding members of the CDU consisted primarily of former members of the Centre Party, the German Democratic Party, the German National People's Party, and the German People's Party. In the Cold War, years after World War II up to the 1960s (see Vergangenheitsbewältigung), the CDU attracted conservative, anti-communist, former Nazis as well as Nazi collaborators into its higher ranks (like Hans Globke and Theodor Oberländer but also future CDU chairman and West German chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger). A prominent member was theologian Eugen Gerstenmaier, who became Acting Chairman of the Foreign Board (1949–1969).

The result of these meetings was the establishment of an inter-confessional (Catholic and Protestant alike) party influenced heavily by the political tradition of liberal conservatism.[11] The CDU experienced considerable success gaining widespread support from the time of its creation in Berlin on 26 June 1945 until its first convention on 21 October 1950, at which future West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer was named the first Chairman of the party.

Adenauer era (1949–1963)

File:CDU Wahlkampfplakat - kaspl019.JPG
The election poster of 1957 reading "No experiments" and featuring then Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (This was the only federal election in which the CDU obtained an absolute majority in the Bundestag.)

In the beginning, it was not clear which party would be favored by the victors of World War II, but by the end of the 1940s the governments of the United States and of the United Kingdom began to lean more toward the CDU and significantly away from the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), especially due to geopolitical reasons. The latter was more nationalist and sought German reunification even at the expense of concessions to the Soviet Union (USSR), depicting Adenauer as an instrument of both the Americans and the Vatican. The Western powers appreciated the CDU's right-ward slant, its commitment to capitalism, and its value as a pivotal oppositional force to the communists, thereby keeping consistent with US/UK foreign policy. In addition, Adenauer was also trusted by the British.[12]

However, the party was split over issues of rearmament within the Western alliance and German unification as a neutral state. Adenauer staunchly defended his pro-Western position and outmaneuvered some of his opponents. He also refused to consider the SPD as a party of the coalition until he felt sure that they shared his anti-communist position. The principled rejection of a reunification that would alienate Germany from the Western alliance made it harder to attract Protestant voters to the party, as most refugees from the former German territories east of the Oder river were of that faith, as were the majority of the inhabitants of East Germany.[12]

Therefore, the CDU was the dominant political party for the first two decades following the establishment of West Germany in 1949. The durable alliance that the party had established with the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) as the leading tandem of several federal governments, and, implicitly, the strong partnership between Chancellor Adenauer and President Theodor Heuss enabled West Germany to thoroughly rebuild itself in the wake of World War II. Adenauer remained the party's leader until 1963, when former Minister of Economics Ludwig Erhard replaced him.[13] As the Free Democratic Party (FDP) withdrew from the governing coalition in 1966 due to disagreements over fiscal and economic policy, Erhard was forced to resign. Consequently, a grand coalition with the SPD took over government under CDU Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger.

Opposition against social-liberal governments (1969–1982)

The SPD quickly gained popularity and succeeded in forming a social-liberal coalition with the FDP following the 1969 federal election, forcing the CDU out of power for the first time in its history. The CDU and CSU were highly critical of Chancellor Willy Brandt's "change through rapprochement" policy towards the Eastern bloc (Ostpolitik) and protested sharply against the 1970 treaties of Moscow and Warsaw that renounced claims to the former eastern territories of Germany and recognised the Oder–Neisse line as Germany's eastern border. The Union parties had close ties with the Heimatvertriebene associations (Germans who fled or were expelled from the eastern territories) who hoped for a return of or in these territories. Seven Bundestag members, including former vice chancellor Erich Mende, defected from the FDP and SPD to the CDU in protest against these treaties, depriving Brandt of his majority, and providing a thin majority for the CDU and CSU. In April 1972, the CDU saw its chance to return to power, calling a constructive vote of no confidence. CDU chairman Rainer Barzel was almost certain to become the new Chancellor. But not all parliamentarians voted as expected (it was later revealed that two CDU/CSU deputies had been bribed by the East German Stasi): Brandt won the vote and stayed in office. Thus, the CDU continued its role as opposition for a total of thirteen years. In 1982, the FDP withdrew from the coalition with the SPD and allowed the CDU to regain power.

Kohl era (1982–1998)

CDU Chairman Helmut Kohl became the new Chancellor of West Germany and his CDU/CSU–FDP coalition was confirmed in the 1983 federal election.

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1990-0518-028, Staatsvertrag BRD-DDR, Helmut Kohl, Lothar de Maizière.jpg
East German CDU leader Lothar de Maizière (left) with West German CDU leader Helmut Kohl in September 1990

After the collapse of the East German government in 1989, Kohl—supported by the governments of the United States and reluctantly by those of France and the United Kingdom—called for German reunification. On 3 October 1990, the government of East Germany was abolished and its territory acceded to the territory of the Basic Law already in place in West Germany. The East German CDU merged with its West German counterpart and elections were held for the reunified country. Public support for the coalition's work in the process of German reunification was reiterated in the 1990 federal election in which the CDU–FDP governing coalition experienced a clear victory. Although Kohl was re-elected, the party began losing much of its popularity because of an economic recession in the former GDR and increased taxes in the west. The CDU was nonetheless able to win the 1994 federal election by a narrow margin thanks to an economic recovery.

Kohl served as chairman until the party's electoral defeat in 1998, when he was succeeded by Wolfgang Schäuble. In the 1998 federal election, the CDU polled 28.4% and the CSU 6.7% of the national vote, the lowest result for those parties since 1949; a red–green coalition under the leadership of Gerhard Schröder took power until 2005.

Merkel era (2000–2018)

File:Angela Merkel CDU Parteitag 2014 by Olaf Kosinsky-25.jpg
Angela Merkel was the first female leader of the CDU and the third longest serving of the party overall, after Kohl and Adenauer.

Schäuble resigned in early 2000 as a result of a party financing scandal and was replaced by Angela Merkel, the first woman and the first person from East Germany to lead the federal party. She remained the leader of the CDU for more than eighteen years. In the 2002 federal election, Merkel ceded the position of CDU/CSU's joint candidate for the chancellor's office to the leader of the sister party, Bavarian minister-president Edmund Stoiber. CDU and CSU polled slightly higher (29.5% and 9.0%, respectively), but still lacked the majority needed for a CDU–FDP coalition government and stayed in opposition.

In 2005, early elections were called after the CDU dealt the governing SPD a major blow, winning more than ten state elections, most of which were landslide victories. The resulting grand coalition between the CDU/CSU and the SPD faced a serious challenge stemming from both parties' demand for the chancellorship. After three weeks of negotiations, the two parties reached a deal whereby CDU received the chancellorship while the SPD retained 8 of the 16 seats in the cabinet and a majority of the most prestigious cabinet posts.[14] The coalition deal was approved by both parties at party conferences on 14 November.[15] Merkel was confirmed as the first female Chancellor of Germany by the majority of delegates (397 to 217) in the newly assembled Bundestag on 22 November.[16] Since her first term in office, from 2005 to 2009, there have been discussions if the CDU was still "sufficiently conservative" or if it was "social-democratising".[17] In March 2009, Merkel answered with the statement "Sometimes I am liberal, sometimes I am conservative, sometimes I am Christian-social—and this is what defines the CDU."[18]

Although the CDU/CSU lost support in the 2009 federal elections, their "desired partner" the FDP experienced the best election cycle in its history, thereby enabling a CDU/CSU–FDP coalition. This marked the first change of coalition partner by a Chancellor in German history and the first centre-right coalition government since 1998. CDU candidate Christian Wulff won the 2010 presidential election in the third ballot, while opposition candidate Joachim Gauck (a Protestant pastor and former anti-communist activist in East Germany, who was favoured even by some CDU members) received a number of "faithless" votes from the government camp.

The decisions to suspend conscription (late 2010) and to phase out nuclear energy (shortly after the Fukushima disaster in 2011) broke with long-term principles of the CDU, moving the party into a more socially liberal direction and alienating some of its more conservative members and voters. At its November 2011 conference the party proposed a "wage floor", after having expressly rejected minimum wages during the previous years.[19] Psephologist and Merkel advisor Matthias Jung coined the term "asymmetric demobilisation" for the CDU's strategy (practised in the 2009, 2013 and 2017 campaigns)[20] of adopting issues and positions close to its rivals, e.g. regarding social justice (SPD) and ecology (Greens), thus avoiding conflicts that might mobilise their potential supporters. Some of the promises in the CDU's 2013 election platform were seen as "overtaking the SPD on the left".[21] While this strategy proved to be quite successful in elections, it also raised warnings that the CDU's profile would become "random", the party would lose its "essence"[19] and it might even be dangerous for democracy in general if parties became indistinguishable and voters demotivated.

President Wulff resigned in February 2012 due to allegations of corruption, triggering an early presidential election. This time the CDU supported, reluctantly, nonpartisan candidate Joachim Gauck. The CDU/CSU–FDP coalition lasted until the 2013 federal election, when the FDP lost all its seats in the Bundestag while the CDU and CSU won their best result since 1990, only a few seats short of an absolute majority. This was partly due to the CDU's expansion of voter base to all socio-structural groups (class, age or gender), partly due to the personal popularity of Chancellor Merkel.[22] After talks with the Greens had failed, the CDU/CSU formed a new grand coalition with the SPD.

Despite their long-cherished slogan of "There must be no democratically legitimised party to the right of CDU/CSU",[23] the Union has had a serious competitor to its right since 2013. The right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) was founded with the involvement of disgruntled CDU members. It drew on the discontent of some conservatives with the Merkel administration's handling of the European debt crisis (2009–14) and later the 2015 refugee crisis, lamenting a purported loss of sovereignty and control or even "state failure". Nearly 10 percent of early AfD members were defectors from the CDU.[24]

In 2017, the Bundestag voted to legalise same-sex marriage. Merkel had allowed the conscience vote to happen despite her personal objections. While she herself and the majority of the party's representatives voted against the proposal, a number of CDU deputies supported it.[25] In the 2017 election, the CDU and CSU lost a large portion of their vote share: With 26.8 percent of party list votes, the CDU received its worst result since 1949, losing more than fifty seats in the Bundestag (despite an enlargement of the parliament). After failing to negotiate a coalition with the FDP and Greens, they continued their grand coalition with the SPD. In October 2018, Merkel announced that she would step down as leader of the CDU that December and not seek reelection, but wanted to remain as Chancellor until 2021.[26]

Post-Merkel and Merz era (2018–present)

On 7 December 2018, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer was elected as federal chairwoman of the CDU. Kramp-Karrenbauer was considered Merkel's ideological successor, though holding more socially conservative positions, such as opposition to same-sex marriage. Kramp-Karrenbauer's election saw a rise in support for the CDU in national polling, and her personal popularity was initially high.[27] However, she suffered a sharp decline in popularity in the lead-up to the 2019 European Parliament election, in which the CDU/CSU suffered its worst ever result in a national election with just 29%. Kramp-Karrenbauer thereafter remained one of the least popular politicians nationally.[28][29]

The CSU's Manfred Weber was the Spitzenkandidat for the European People's Party in the 2019 European Parliament election. However, the EPP group ultimately nominated the CDU's Ursula von der Leyen as their candidate for President of the European Commission; she was elected in July 2019, becoming the first woman to hold the office.[30]

Kramp-Karrenbauer resigned as party chair on 10 February 2020, in the midst of the 2020 Thuringian government crisis. The Thuringian CDU had been perceived as cooperating with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) to prevent the election of a left-wing government, breaching the long-standing taboo in Germany surrounding cooperation with the far-right. Kramp-Karrenbauer was perceived as unable to enforce discipline within the party during the crisis, which she claimed was complicated by unclear positions within the party regarding cooperation with the AfD and The Left, which party statute holds to be equally unacceptable. While the Thuringia crisis was the immediate trigger for Kramp-Karrenbauer's resignation, she stated the decision had "matured some time ago",[31] and media attributed it to the troubled development of her brief leadership.[32]

Kramp-Karrenbauer remained in office as Minister of Defence and interim party leader from February until the leadership election was held in January 2021.[33][34] Originally scheduled for April 2020, it was delayed multiple times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and was ultimately held online. Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia Armin Laschet won the election with 52.8% of delegate votes. His main opponent Friedrich Merz, was seen as more right-wing, who won 47.2% of vote; Merz had also run against Kramp-Karrenbauer in 2018 and been defeated. Laschet's election was seen as an affirmation of Merkel's leadership and the CDU's centrist orientation.[35]

On 7 October 2021, Armin Laschet, signaled that he would step down after a disastrous general election result, with the CDU suffering its worst ever general election result.[36] A new leadership election was called in December and Friedrich Merz, of the right-wing faction of the CDU, was elected by a large majority of 62.1% of voters, defeating pro-Merkel candidates Norbert Röttgen and Helge Braun.[37] The Congress of the CDU officially elected Merz as new party Chairman on 22 January 2022, and he assumed office on 31 January 2022.[5][38]

In the 2024 European parliament election, the CDU remained the largest party in Germany, winning 30.0% of the vote in a combined list with the CSU, led by CSU MEP Manfred Weber. The combined list held on to all 29 seats, with the CDU maintaining 23 seats while the CSU had the remaining 6 seats.[39] In October 2024, CDU again became proponents of nuclear energy, advocating reactivation of closed reactors and construction of new plants.[40]

The CDU contested the 2025 German federal election with Friedrich Merz as their chancellor candidate.[41] Their manifesto signalled a shift to the right on immigration as well as increased support for Ukraine.[42] The CDU eventually won the election, gaining 12 seats.[43][44] Following the election results, the CDU began negotiations with the SPD to form another grand coalition.[45] In May 2025, Friedrich Merz, leader of the CDU, formed a coalition government between the CDU/CSU and the SPD (grand coalition).[46] Co-leader of the SPD, Lars Klingbeil, became vice chancellor and finance minister of the new government.[47]

Ideology and platform

Template:Conservatism in Germany Script error: No such module "Sidebar". In her 2005 campaign, Angela Merkel was unwilling to express explicitly Christian views while maintaining that her party had never lost its concept of values. Merkel and Bundestag President Norbert Lammert have been keen to clarify that CDU references to the "dominant culture" imply "tolerance and living together".[12] According to party analyst Stephan Eisel, her avoiding the values issue may have had the opposite effect as she failed to mobilize the party's core constituency.[48]

The CDU applies the principles of Christian democracy and emphasizes the "Christian understanding of humans and their responsibility toward God". However, CDU membership consists of people adhering to a variety of religions as well as non-religious individuals. The CDU's policies derive from political Catholicism, Catholic social teaching and political Protestantism as well as economic liberalism and national conservatism. The party has adopted more liberal economic policies since Helmut Kohl's term in office as the Chancellor of Germany (1982–1998).

As a conservative party, the CDU supports stronger punishments of crimes and involvement on the part of the Bundeswehr in cases of domestic anti-terrorism offensives. In terms of immigrants, the CDU supports initiatives to integrate immigrants through language courses and aims to further control immigration. It holds that dual citizenship should only be allowed in exceptional cases.

In terms of foreign policy, the CDU commits itself to European integration and a strong relation with the United States. In the European Union, the party opposes the entry of Turkey, preferring instead a privileged partnership. In addition to citing various human rights violations, the CDU also believes that Turkey's unwillingness to recognise Cyprus as an independent sovereign state contradicts the European Union policy that its members must recognise the existence of one another.

The party supports a business-friendly adaptation of the European Green Deal, and would like to continue to allow vehicles with combustion engines, research synthetic fuels and promote research into nuclear fusion. The party calls for EU member states to limit their annual borrowing to three percent of their gross domestic product.[49]

The CDU has governed in four federal-level and numerous state-level Grand Coalitions with the Social Democratic Party (SPD) as well as in state and local-level coalitions with the Alliance 90/The Greens.

Cordon sanitaire

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The CDU has an official party congress adjudication that prohibits coalitions and any sort of cooperation with either The Left or the Alternative for Germany.[50]

CDU officially prohibits any cooperation with the AfD, but does not clearly define what that means. In the eastern federal states, however, there is ongoing tolerance for, or cooperation of CDU with, the right-wing radical AfD at the local and district level.[51][52][53]

CDU leader Friedrich Merz took blowback for his political approaches to the AfD after he called his party in 2023 an "alternative... with substance".[54] Political observers from abroad say that the CDU's boundaries with the far-right are eroding.[55][56]

Organisation

Structure

Party congress

File:CDU Bundesparteitag 2015 by Olaf Kosinsky.JPG
28th party conference in 2015

The party congress is the highest organ of the CDU. It meets at least every two years, determines the basic lines of CDU policy, approves the party program and decides on the statutes of the CDU.

The CDU party congress consists of the delegates of the CDU regional associations, the foreign associations and the honorary chairmen. The state associations send exactly 1,000 delegates who have to be elected by the state or district conventions. The number of delegates that a regional association can send depends on the number of members of the association six months before the party congress and the result of the last federal election in the respective federal state. The foreign associations recognized by the federal executive committee each send a delegate to the party congress, regardless of their number of members.

Federal committee

The federal committee is the second highest body and deals with all political and organizational matters that are not expressly reserved for the federal party congress. For this reason it is often called a small party congress.

Federal executive board and presidium

The CDU federal executive heads the federal party. It implements the resolutions of the federal party congress and the federal committee and convenes the federal party congress. The CDU Presidium is responsible for executing the resolutions of the federal executive committee and handling current and urgent business. It consists of the leading members of the federal executive board and is not an organ of the CDU in Germany.

Leadership

Leader of the CDU, 1946–present

Leader Year
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |1 Konrad Adenauer 1946–1966
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |2 Ludwig Erhard 1966–1967
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |3 Kurt Georg Kiesinger 1967–1971
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |4 Rainer Barzel 1971–1973
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |5 Helmut Kohl 1973–1998
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |6 Wolfgang Schäuble 1998–2000
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |7 Angela Merkel 2000–2018
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |8 Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer 2018–2021
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |9 Armin Laschet 2021–2022
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |10 Friedrich Merz 2022–present

Leader of the CDU/CSU Group in the Bundestag

Leader in the Bundestag Year
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |1 Heinrich von Brentano
(First term)
1949–1955
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |2 Heinrich Krone 1955–1961
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |(1) Heinrich von Brentano
(Second term)
1961–1964
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |3 Rainer Barzel 1964–1973
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |4 Karl Carstens 1973–1976
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |5 Helmut Kohl 1976–1982
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |6 Alfred Dregger 1982–1991
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |7 Wolfgang Schäuble 1991–2000
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |8 Friedrich Merz
(First term)
2000–2002
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |9 Angela Merkel 2002–2005
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |10 Volker Kauder 2005–2018
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |11 Ralph Brinkhaus 2018–2022
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |(8) Friedrich Merz
(Second term)
2022–2025
12 Jens Spahn 2025–present

Regional Leadership

State Leader
File:Flag of Baden-Württemberg.svg Baden-Württemberg Manuel Hagel
File:Flag of Berlin.svg Berlin Kai Wegner
File:Flag of Brandenburg.svg Brandenburg Jan Redmann
File:Flag of Bremen.svg Bremen Carsten Meyer-Heder
File:Flag of Hamburg.svg Hamburg Dennis Thering
File:Flag of Hesse.svg Hesse Boris Rhein
File:Flag of Lower Saxony.svg Lower Saxony Sebastian Lechner
File:Flag of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.svg Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Daniel Peters
File:Flag of North Rhine-Westphalia.svg North Rhine-Westphalia Hendrik Wüst
File:Flag of Rhineland-Palatinate.svg Rhineland-Palatinate Christian Baldauf
File:Flag of Saarland.svg Saarland Stephan Toscani
File:Flag of Saxony.svg Saxony Michael Kretschmer
File:Flag of Saxony-Anhalt (state).svg Saxony-Anhalt Reiner Haseloff
File:Flag of Schleswig-Holstein.svg Schleswig-Holstein Daniel Günther
File:Flag of Thuringia.svg Thuringia Mario Voigt

Membership

Before 1966, membership totals in the CDU organisation were only estimated. The numbers after 1966 are based on the total from 31 December of the previous year. In 2023, the CDU had 363.101 members.[57]

Special organizations

Notable suborganisations of the CDU are the following:

Konrad Adenauer Foundation

File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F053560-0013, Rhöndorf, Sitzung Stiftung Adenauer-Haus.jpg
1978 conference in Rhöndorf with eminent historian Golo Mann (center)

The Konrad Adenauer Foundation is the think-tank of the CDU. It is named after the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany and first president of the CDU. The foundation offers political education, conducts scientific fact-finding research for political projects, grants scholarships to gifted individuals, researches the history of Christian democracy and supports and encourages European unification, international understanding and development-policy cooperation. Its annual budget amounts to around 120 million euro and is mostly funded by taxpayer money.[58]

Relationship with the CSU

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File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F074010-0033, Köln, Deutschlandtag Junge Union.jpg
1986 Germany Day of Junge Union in Cologne

Both the CDU and the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) originated after World War II, sharing a concern for the Christian worldview. In the Bundestag, the CDU is represented in a common faction with the CSU. This faction is called CDU/CSU, or informally the Union. Its basis is a binding agreement known as a Fraktionsvertrag between the two parties.

The CDU and CSU share a common youth organisation, the Junge Union, a common pupil organisation, the Template:Interlanguage link, a common student organisation, the Ring Christlich-Demokratischer Studenten and a common Mittelstand organisation, the Template:Interlanguage link.

The CDU and CSU are legally and organisationally separate parties; their ideological differences are sometimes a source of conflict. The most notable and serious such incident was in 1976, when the CSU under Franz Josef Strauß ended the alliance with the CDU at a party conference in Wildbad Kreuth. This decision was reversed shortly thereafter when the CDU threatened to run candidates against the CSU in Bavaria.

The relationship of CDU to the CSU has historic parallels to previous Christian-democratic parties in Germany, with the Catholic Centre Party having served as a national Catholic party throughout the German Empire and the Weimar Republic while the Bavarian People's Party functioning as the Bavarian variant.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

Since its formation, the CSU has been more conservative than the CDU. The CSU and the state of Bavaria decided not to sign the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany as they insisted on more autonomy for the individual states.[59] The CSU has actively participated in all political affairs of the Bundestag, the German government, the Bundesrat, the parliamentary elections of the German President, the European Parliament and meetings with Mikhail Gorbachev in Russia.

Notable members

Federal presidents from the CDU

President of Germany Time in office
Heinrich Lübke 1959–1969
Karl Carstens 1979–1984
Richard von Weizsäcker 1984–1994
Roman Herzog 1994–1999
Horst Köhler 2004–2010
Christian Wulff 2010–2012

German chancellors from the CDU

Chancellor of Germany Time in office
Konrad Adenauer 1949–1963
Ludwig Erhard 1963–1966
Kurt Georg Kiesinger 1966–1969
Helmut Kohl 1982–1998
Angela Merkel 2005–2021
Friedrich Merz 2025–present

Vice-chancellors from the CDU

Vice-Chancellor of Germany Time in office
Ludwig Erhard 1957–1963
Hans-Christoph Seebohm 1966

Election results

Federal parliament (Bundestag)

Election Leader Constituency Party list Seats +/– Government
Votes % Votes %
1949 Konrad Adenauer 5,978,636 25.2 (#1) Template:Composition bar CDU/CSU–FDPDP
1953 9,577,659 34.8 (#1) 10,016,594 36.4 (#1) Template:Composition bar Increase 82 CDU/CSU–FDPDP
1957 11,975,400 39.7 (#1) 11,875,339 39.7 (#1) Template:Composition bar Increase 25 CDU/CSU
1961 11,622,995 36.3 (#2) 11,283,901 35.8 (#2) Template:Composition bar Decrease 21 CDU/CSU–FDP
1965 12,631,319 38.9 (#2) 12,387,562 38.0 (#2) Template:Composition bar Increase 1 CDU/CSU–FDP (1965–66)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
CDU/CSU–SPD (1966–69)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
1969 Kurt Georg Kiesinger 12,137,148 37.1 (#2) 12,079,535 36.6 (#2) Template:Composition bar Decrease 1 Opposition
1972 Rainer Barzel 13,304,813 35.7 (#2) 13,190,837 35.2 (#2) Template:Composition bar Decrease 15 Opposition
1976 Helmut Kohl 14,423,157 38.3 (#2) 14,367,302 38.0 (#2) Template:Composition bar Increase 15 Opposition
1980 13,467,207 35.6 (#2) 12,989,200 34.2 (#2) Template:Composition bar Decrease 16 Opposition (1980–82)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
CDU/CSU–FDP (1982–83)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
1983 15,943,460 41.0 (#1) 14,857,680 38.1 (#2) Template:Composition bar Increase 17 CDU/CSU–FDP
1987 14,168,527 37.5 (#2) 13,045,745 34.4 (#2) Template:Composition bar Decrease 17 CDU/CSU–FDP
1990 17,707,574 38.3 (#1) 17,055,116 36.7 (#1) Template:Composition bar Increase 83 CDU/CSU–FDP
1994 17,473,325 37.2 (#2) 16,089,960 34.2 (#2) Template:Composition bar Decrease 24 CDU/CSU–FDP
1998 15,854,215 32.2 (#2) 14,004,908 28.4 (#2) Template:Composition bar Decrease 46 Opposition
2002 Angela Merkel 15,336,512 32.1 (#2) 14,167,561 29.5 (#2) Template:Composition bar Decrease 8 Opposition
2005 15,390,950 32.6 (#2) 13,136,740 27.8 (#2) Template:Composition bar Decrease 10 CDU/CSU–SPD
2009 13,856,674 32.0 (#1) 11,828,277 27.3 (#1) Template:Composition bar Increase 14 CDU/CSU–FDP
2013 16,233,642 37.2 (#1) 14,921,877 34.1 (#1) Template:Composition bar Increase 61 CDU/CSU–SPD
2017 14,027,804 30.2 (#1) 12,445,832 26.8 (#1) Template:Composition bar Decrease 54 CDU/CSU–SPD
2021 Armin Laschet 10,445,571 22.6 (#2) 8,770,980 19.0 (#2) Template:Composition bar Decrease 48 Opposition
2025 Friedrich Merz 12,601,967 25.5 (#1) 11,194,700 22.5 (#1) Template:Composition bar Increase 12 CDU/CSU–SPD

European Parliament

Election Votes % Seats +/– EP Group
1979 10,883,085 39.08 (#2) Template:Composition bar New EPP
1984 9,308,411 37.46 (#1) Template:Composition bar Increase 1
1989 8,332,846 29.54 (#2) Template:Composition bar Decrease 8
1994 11,346,073 32.04 (#2) Template:Composition bar Increase 15
1999 10,628,224 39.28 (#1) Template:Composition bar Increase 4 EPP-ED
2004 9,412,009 36.51 (#1) Template:Composition bar Decrease 3
2009 8,071,391 30.65 (#1) Template:Composition bar Decrease 6 EPP
2014 8,807,500 30.02 (#1) Template:Composition bar Decrease 5
2019 8,437,093 22.57 (#1) Template:Composition bar Decrease 6
2024 9,431,567 23.70 (#1) Template:Composition bar Steady 0

State parliaments (Länder)

The CDU does not contest elections in Bavaria due to the alliance with Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union in Bavaria.

State parliament Election Votes % Seats +/– Government
Baden-Württemberg 2021 1,168,745 24.1 (#2) Template:Composition bar Steady 0 Greens–CDU
Berlin 2023 428,100 28.2 (#1) Template:Composition bar Increase 22 CDU–SPD
Brandenburg 2024 181,632 12.1 (#4) Template:Composition bar Decrease 3 Opposition
Bremen 2023 331,380 26.7 (#2) Template:Composition bar Steady 0 Opposition
Hamburg 2025 864,700 19.8 (#2) Template:Composition bar Increase 11 TBA
Hesse 2023 972,595 34.6 (#1) Template:Composition bar Increase 12 CDU–SPD
Lower Saxony 2022 1,017,276 28.1 (#2) Template:Composition bar Decrease 3 Opposition
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 2021 121,566 13.3 (#3) Template:Composition bar Decrease 4 Opposition
North Rhine-Westphalia 2022 2,552,276 35.7 (#1) Template:Composition bar Increase 4 CDU–Greens
Rhineland-Palatinate 2021 535,345 27.7 (#2) Template:Composition bar Decrease 4 Opposition
Saarland 2022 129,156 28.5 (#2) Template:Composition bar Decrease 5 Opposition
Saxony 2024 749,216 31.9 (#1) Template:Composition bar Decrease 4 CDU–SPD
Saxony-Anhalt 2021 394,810 37.1 (#1) Template:Composition bar Increase 10 CDU–SPD–FDP
Schleswig-Holstein 2022 601,943 43.4 (#1) Template:Composition bar Increase 9 CDU–Greens
Thuringia 2024 285,141 23.6 (#2) Template:Composition bar Increase2 CDU–BSW–SPD
Best historic state results
State Election % Seats Result
Baden-Württemberg 1976 56.7 (#1) Template:Composition bar Majority
Berlin 1981 48.0 (#1) Template:Composition bar Minority
Brandenburg 1999 26.5 (#2) Template:Composition bar Coalition
Bremen 1999 37.1 (#2) Template:Composition bar Coalition
Hamburg 2004 47.2 (#1) Template:Composition bar Majority
Hesse 2003 48.8 (#1) Template:Composition bar Majority
Lower Saxony 1982 50.7 (#1) Template:Composition bar Majority
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 1990 38.3 (#1) Template:Composition bar Coalition
North Rhine-Westphalia 1958 50.5 (#1) Template:Composition bar Majority
Rhineland-Palatinate 1983 51.9 (#1) Template:Composition bar Majority
Saarland 1975 49.1 (#1) Template:Composition bar Coalition
Saxony 1994 58.1 (#1) Template:Composition bar Majority
Saxony-Anhalt 1990 39.0 (#1) Template:Composition bar Coalition
Schleswig-Holstein 1971 51.9 (#1) Template:Composition bar Majority
Thuringia 1999 51.0 (#1) Template:Composition bar Majority

Results timeline

Year Template:Flagicon
DE
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EU
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BW
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BY
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BE
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BB
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HB
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HH
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HE
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NI
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MV
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NW
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RP
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SL
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SN
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ST
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SH
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TH
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WD
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DD
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SB
File:Flag of Württemberg-Baden.svg
WB
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WH
1946 N/A N/A N/A 38.4 Template:Efn 22.7
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
30.3 18.9 26.7 31.0 34.1 23.3 21.8 18.9
1947 55.9 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  20.8 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Increase 22.0 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  19.1 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  37.6 47.2 N/A <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  34.0 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
1948 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 19.4
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
1949 31.0 Template:Efn <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 34.5
1950 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 

<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 

Template:Efn Decrease 26.3 Increase 24.6 Template:Efn Decrease 18.8 Template:Efn Decrease 36.9 Template:Efn Template:Efn Decrease 19.8 Template:Efn
1951 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 9.0 Decrease 23.7 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 39.2 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
1952 36.0
N/A <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  N/A <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  N/A N/A N/A
1953 Increase 45.2 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Increase 50.0
1954 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Template:Efn Increase 30.4 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Increase 24.1 Increase 41.3 Increase 32.2
1955 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Increase 18.0 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Increase 26.6 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Increase 46.8 25.4 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
1956 Increase 42.6 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
1957 Increase 50.2 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 32.2
1958 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Template:Efn Increase 37.7 Increase 32.0 Increase 50.5 Increase 44.4
1959 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 14.8 Increase 30.8 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Increase 48.4 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
1960 Decrease 39.5 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 36.6
1961 Decrease 45.3 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 29.1 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
1962 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 28.8 Decrease 46.4 Increase 45.0
1963 Template:Efn Decrease 28.8 Increase 28.9 Increase 37.7 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 44.4 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
1964 Increase 46.2 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
1965 Increase 47.6 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Increase 42.7
1966 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Increase 30.0 Decrease 26.4 Decrease 42.8
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
1967 Template:Efn Increase 32.9 Increase 29.5 Increase 41.7 Increase 46.7 Increase 46.0
1968 Decrease 44.2 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
1969 Decrease 46.1 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
1970 Increase 32.8 Increase 39.7 Increase 45.7 Increase 46.3 Increase 47.8
1971 Template:Efn Increase 38.2 Increase 31.6 Increase 50.0 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Increase 51.9
1972 Decrease 44.9 Increase 52.9 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
1973 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
1974 Increase 40.6 Increase 47.3 Increase 48.8
1975 Increase 43.9 Increase 33.8 Increase 47.1 Increase 53.9 Increase 49.1 Decrease 50.4
1976 Increase 48.6 Template:Efn Increase 56.7 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
1977 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
1978 Decrease 37.6 Decrease 46.0 Decrease 48.7
1979 49.2 Increase 42.7 Decrease 31.9 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 50.1 Decrease 48.3
1980 Decrease 44.5 Decrease 53.4 Decrease 43.2 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 44.0 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
1981 Template:Efn <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Increase 48.0 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
1982 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Increase 43.2 Decrease 45.6 Increase 50.7
Decrease 38.6
1983 Increase 48.8 Increase 33.3 Decrease 39.4 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Increase 51.9 Increase 49.0
1984 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 46.0 Decrease 51.9 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
1985 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 46.4 Decrease 36.5 Decrease 37.3
1986 Template:Efn <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Increase 41.9 Decrease 44.3
1987 Decrease 44.3 Decrease 23.4 Decrease 40.5 Increase 42.1 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 45.1 Decrease 42.6
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
1988 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 49.0 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 33.3
1989 Decrease 37.7 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 37.7
1990 Decrease 43.8 48.0Template:Efn
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
Increase 40.4 29.4 Decrease 42.0 38.3 Increase 36.7 Decrease 33.4 53.8 39.0 45.4
1991 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Increase 30.7 Decrease 35.1 Decrease 40.2 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 38.7 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
1992 Decrease 39.6 Increase 33.8
1993 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 25.1
1994 Decrease 41.4 Increase 38.8 Decrease 18.7 Decrease 36.4 Decrease 37.7 Increase 38.6 Increase 58.1 Decrease 34.4 Decrease 42.6
1995 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 37.4 Increase 32.6 Decrease 39.2 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Increase 37.7 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
1996 Increase 41.3 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Template:Unchanged 38.7 Increase 37.2
1997 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Increase 30.7
1998 Decrease 35.1 Decrease 35.9 Decrease 30.2 Decrease 22.0
1999 Increase 48.7 Increase 40.8
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
Increase 26.5 Increase 37.1 Increase 43.4 Increase 45.5 Decrease 56.9 Increase 51.0
2000 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 37.0 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 35.2 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
2001 Increase 44.8 Decrease 26.2 Decrease 35.3
Decrease 23.8
2002 Increase 38.5 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Increase 31.4 Increase 37.3
2003 Decrease 29.8 Increase 48.8 Increase 48.3 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
2004 Decrease 44.5 Decrease 19.4 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Increase 47.2 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Increase 47.5 Decrease 41.1 Decrease 43.0
2005 Decrease 35.2 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Increase 44.8 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Increase 40.2 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
2006 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 44.2 Decrease 21.3 Decrease 28.8 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 32.8 Decrease 36.2 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
2007 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 25.6 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
2008 Decrease 42.6 Decrease 36.8 Decrease 42.5
2009 Decrease 33.8 Decrease 37.9 Increase 19.8 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Increase 37.2 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 34.5 Decrease 40.2 Decrease 31.5 Decrease 31.2
2010 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 34.6 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
2011 Decrease 39.1 Increase 23.3 Decrease 20.4 Decrease 21.9 Decrease 23.0 Increase 35.2 Decrease 32.5
2012 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 26.3 Increase 35.2 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 30.8
2013 Increase 41.5 Increase 38.3 Decrease 36.0 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
2014 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 35.4 Increase 23.0 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 39.4 Increase 33.5
2015 Increase 22.4 Decrease 15.9 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
2016 Decrease 27.0 Decrease 17.6 Decrease 19.0 Decrease 31.8 Decrease 29.8
2017 Decrease 32.9 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 33.6 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Increase 33.0 Increase 40.7 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Increase 32.0
2018 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 27.0 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
2019 Decrease 28.9 Decrease 15.6 Increase 26.7 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 32.1 Decrease 21.7
2020 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 11.2 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
2021 Decrease 24.1 Decrease 24.1 Increase 18.0 Decrease 13.3 Decrease 27.7 Increase 37.1
2022 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 28.1 Increase 35.7 Decrease 28.5 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Increase 43.4
2023 Increase 28.2 Decrease 26.2 Increase 34.6 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
2024 Increase 30.0 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 12.1 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Decrease 31.9 Increase 23.6
2025 Increase 28.5
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
Increase 19.8 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> 
Year Template:Flagicon
DE
Template:Flagicon
EU
Template:Flagicon
BW
Template:Flagicon
BY
Template:Flagicon
BE
Template:Flagicon
BB
Template:Flagicon
HB
Template:Flagicon
HH
Template:Flagicon
HE
Template:Flagicon
NI
Template:Flagicon
MV
Template:Flagicon
NW
Template:Flagicon
RP
Template:Flagicon
SL
Template:Flagicon
SN
Template:Flagicon
ST
Template:Flagicon
SH
Template:Flagicon
TH
Bold indicates best result to date.
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Present in legislature (in opposition)
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Junior coalition partner
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />  Senior coalition partner

See also

Notes

Template:Notelist

References

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  1. Multiple sources:
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  4. Multiple sources:
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  5. a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  10. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  11. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  12. a b c Paul Gottfried. "The Rise and Fall of Christian Democracy in Europe". Orbis, fall 2007.
  13. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  15. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  18. "Mal bin ich liberal, mal bin ich konservativ, mal bin ich christlich-sozial – und das macht die CDU aus". Angela Merkel in the TV Show Anne Will, 22 March 2009. Cited in Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  19. a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  20. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  21. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  22. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  23. Based on a quote by CSU leader and Bavarian minister-president Franz Josef Strauß, 9 August 1987. Quoted in SWR2 Archivradio Template:Webarchive, 15 October 2018.
  24. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  25. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  27. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  28. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  29. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  30. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  31. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  32. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  33. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  34. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  35. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  36. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  37. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  38. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  39. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  40. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  41. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  42. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  43. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  44. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  45. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  46. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  47. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  48. Stefan Eisel: Reale Regierungsopposition gegen gefühlte Oppositionsregierung Die Politische Meinung, Dezember 2005.
  49. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  50. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  51. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  52. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  53. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  54. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  55. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  56. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  57. https://www.cdu.de/artikel/fuer-mehr-politisches-engagement-in-der-cdu, Retrieved 4t July 2023.
  58. "2010 Annual Report" Template:Webarchive (in German). p. 93.
  59. Dieter Wunderlich (2006). "Gründung der Bundesrepublik Deutschland". Retrieved 23 September 2013.
  60. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

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Further reading

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External links

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Template:European People's Party Template:International Democracy Union Template:Parties of Germany Template:Portal bar Template:Authority control