List of political parties in Germany Information & List of political parties in Germany Links at HealthHaven.com

This is a list of political parties in Germany.

The Parliament of Germany has a plurality system of parties, with two major parties, the Social Democratic Party (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). Furthermore, it has three minor parties, the Free Democratic Party (FDP), The Left, and Alliance '90/The Greens. The federal government of Germany usually consists of a coalition of a major and a minor party (CDU/CSU and FDP, or SPD and FDP). From 1966 to 1969, and again from 2005 to 2009, the federal government consisted of a grand coalition (CDU/CSU and SPD).^[1]

Coalitions in the Bundestag and state diets are often described by party colors. Party colors are the Social Democratic Party being red, the green Alliance '90/The Greens, the yellow Free Democratic Party, the dark red The Left, and the black Christian Democratic Union.^[2] So a coalition of CDU, Alliance '90/The Greens and FDP is called a Jamaica coalition.^[3]

[edit] Parties in the Bundestag

The following parties currently participate in the German parliament, the Bundestag, sorted by the number of seats (refer to the following links for details):

Name (English)	Name (German)	Abbr.	Leader	Ideology	Position	International organizations	Votes (2009)	Seats in Bundestag	Notes
Christian Democratic Union	Christlich Demokratische Union	CDU	Angela Merkel	Christian democracy and conservatism	centre-right	Centrist Democrat International and International Democrat Union	27.3%	194	Is part of the common CDU/CSU faction in the Bundestag
Social Democratic Party	Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	SPD	Frank-Walter Steinmeier (candidate for Chancellor) and Franz Müntefering (leader)	Social democracy	centre-left	Socialist International	23.0%	146
Free Democratic Party	Freie Demokratische Partei	FDP	Guido Westerwelle	Liberalism	centre	Liberal International	14.6%	93
The Left	Die Linke (DIE LINKE)		Lothar Bisky and Oskar Lafontaine	Democratic Socialism	left-wing	Party of the European Left	11.9%	76	merger of the The Left Party.PDS and WASG
Alliance '90/The Greens	Bündnis 90/Die Grünen	GRÜNE	Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir	Green Politics	centre-left	Global Greens	10.7%	68	merger of Die Grünen and Bündnis 90
Christian Social Union	Christlich-Soziale Union	CSU	Horst Seehofer	Christian democracy and conservatism	centre-right	International Democrat Union	6.5%	45	Is part of the common CDU/CSU faction in the Bundestag

Other parties. In addition to those parties that won representation in the Bundestag in 2009, a variety of minor parties won a cumulative total of approximately 6% of the vote, up from 3% in 2005.

[edit] Minor parties

[edit] More than 0.1% of the vote at the last federal elections in 2009

German Pirate Party (Piratenpartei Deutschland - PIRATEN) 2.0% Civil rights
National Democratic Party of Germany (Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands - NPD): 1.5% far right
Human Environment Animal Welfare (Mensch Umwelt Tierschutz): 0.5% green-conservative
The Republicans (Die Republikaner - REP): 0.4% right-wing
Family Party of Germany (Deutsche Familienpartei): 0.3% center
Ecological Democratic Party (Ökologisch-Demokratische Partei - ÖDP): 0.3% right-green

[edit] Others

Anarchist Pogo Party of Germany (Anarchistische Pogo-Partei Deutschlands - APPD) Frivolous
Bavaria Party (Bayernpartei) Separatist
Communist Party of Germany (Red Dawn) Marxist-Leninist Hoxhaist
Communist Party of Germany (1990) Marxist-Leninist Stalinist
German Centre Party (Deutsche Zentrumspartei - ZENTRUM) centre-right/right-wing (catholic), the party was in many parliaments before 1933)
German Communist Party (Deutsche Kommunistische Partei - DKP) Marxist-Leninist
Christian Centre Party (Christliche Mitte - CM) Christian fundamentalist
Citizens Make Politics (Bürger machen Politik)
Civil Rights Movement Solidarity (Bürgerrechtsbewegung Solidarität - BüSo) LaRoucheist
Feminist Party of Germany (Feministische Partei - DIE FRAUEN) Feminist
Free Voters (Freie Wähler)
German People's Union (DVU) - Nationalist
Marxist Leninist Party of Germany (Marxistisch-Leninistische Partei Deutschlands - MLPD) Marxist-Leninist Maoist
Die PARTEI (Partei für Arbeit, Rechtsstaat, Tierschutz, Elitenförderung und basisdemokratische Initiative - Die PARTEI) Frivolous political party created by editors of the satirical magazine titanic
Party of Bible-abiding Christians (Partei Bibeltreuer Christen - PBC) religious
Revolutionary Socialist League (Revolutionär Sozialistischer Bund/IV. Internationale - RSB) Trotskyist
Social Equality Party (Partei für Soziale Gleichheit, Sektion der Vierten Internationale - PSG) Trotskyist
South Schleswig Voter Federation (Südschleswigscher Wählerverband - SSW) - Danish and Frisian minorities in Germany
The Violets (Party) (Die Violetten - für spirituelle Politik)

[edit] Defunct parties

The Grays – Gray Panther (Die Grauen - Graue Panther - GRAUE)
Law and Order Offensive Party (Partei Rechtsstaatlicher Offensive - Offensive D)

[edit] Historical parties

[edit] Parties existing before World War II

Bavarian People's Party (BVP) - Bavarian Regionalist (1920-1933)
The Anarchy Party (TAP) (between 1933 and 1932/45 a Social Democratic Party left of the TAP)
Centre Party - Christian Democrat/Conservative (1871-1947/today)
Communist Party of Germany (KPD) - Communist (1919-1956)
Communist Party Opposition (KPO)- Communist
Conservative People's Party (KVP)
Free Conservative Party (FKP)
General German Workers' Association (ADAV)
Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) - Socialist (1917-1922)
German Conservative Party (DKP) - Conservative (before 1918)
German Democratic Party (DDP) - Left-Liberal (1918-1930, became the German State Party, which lasted until 1933)
German National People's Party (DNVP) - Nationalist-Conservative (1918-1933)
German People's Party (DVP) - National-Liberal (1918-1933)
German Progress Party (DFP) - Left-Liberal (before 1918)
German Racialist Freedom Party (DVFP) - anti-semitic (early Weimar period)
German Workers' Party (DAP) - precursor to the Nazi Party (1919)
National Liberal Party - Right Liberal (before 1918)
National Socialist German Workers' Party - aka the Nazi Party (NSDAP) (1919-1945)
Progressive People's Party
Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD, same as the current SPD)
Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany (SDAP) (since 1875 Social Democratic Party of Germany)
Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (SAP) (since 1875 Social Democratic Party of Germany)
Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (SAP) (between 1931 and 1941/45 a Social Democratic Party left of the SPD)

[edit] Defunct parties in (former) West Germany

German Party (DP) - Conservative
German Empire Party (DRP) - Far right (1949-64)
German Right Party (DReP) - Far right (1946-51)
Communist Party of Germany (KPD) - Communist (1919-1956)
Socialist Reich Party (SRP) - National Socialist

[edit] Parties in (former) East Germany

[edit] As a socialist state

Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
Liberal Democratic Party of Germany (LDPD)
Democratic Farmers' Party of Germany (DBD)
National Democratic Party of Germany (NDPD)
Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)

[edit] During transition

[edit] See also

Lists of parties by name of the party, country, ideology or by membership of internationals; categories by country and ideology.
History of Germany since 1945
Liberalism in Germany

[edit] References

^ http://www.dw-world.de/popups/popup_printcontent/0,,1647406,00.html
^ "Political parties form colorful spectrum in Germany". 2009-08-18. http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4541120,00.html. Retrieved 2009-09-12.
^ The Green party: Getting used to opposition, Deutsche Welle, 2009-08-24, http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4582700,00.html, retrieved 2009-10-12, "This made a so-called "Jamaica" coalition with the Christian Democratic Union and the Free Democratic Party impossible."

[edit] External links

Political Parties (Germany) - List of German political parties since 1949

[0] ttp://www.dw-world.de/popups/popup_printcontent/0,,1647406,00.html

[1] "Political parties form colorful spectrum in Germany". 2009-08-18. http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4541120,00.html. Retrieved 2009-09-12.

[2] The Green party: Getting used to opposition, Deutsche Welle, 2009-08-24, http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4582700,00.html, retrieved 2009-10-12, "This made a so-called "Jamaica" coalition with the Christian Democratic Union and the Free Democratic Party impossible."

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