List of political parties in Germany

Updated: 5/24/2026, 6:52:30 PM Wikipedia source

The Federal Republic of Germany has a plural multi-party system. Historically, the largest by members and parliament seats are the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), with its sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) and Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Germany also has a number of other parties, in recent history most importantly the Free Democratic Party (FDP), Alliance 90/The Greens, The Left, and more recently the Alternative for Germany (AfD). The federal government of Germany often consisted of a coalition of a major and a minor party, specifically CDU/CSU and FDP or SPD and FDP, and from 1998 to 2005 SPD and Greens. From 1966 to 1969, from 2005 to 2009, from 2013 to 2021 and since 2025, the federal government consisted of a coalition of the two major parties, called a grand coalition. Coalitions in the Bundestag and state legislatures are often described by party colors. Party colors are red for the Social Democratic Party, green for Alliance 90/The Greens, yellow for the Free Democratic Party, purple (officially red, which is customarily used for the SPD) for the Left, light blue for the AfD, and black and blue for the CDU and CSU respectively.

Tables

· Current parties › Parties represented in the Bundestag

Party

Abbr.

Ideology

Political position

Leader(s)

MdBs

MEPs

MdLs

EU party

EP group

Membership

Christian Democratic Union Christlich Demokratische Union

CDU

Christian democracy Conservatism

Centre-right

Friedrich Merz

164 / 630

23 / 96

525 / 1,893

EPP

Christian Social Union in Bavaria Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayern

CSU

Christian democracy Conservatism Bavarian regionalism

Centre-right

Markus Söder

44 / 630

6 / 96

85 / 1,893

EPP

Alternative for Germany Alternative für Deutschland

AfD

Right-wing populism Völkisch nationalism Euroscepticism

Far-right

Tino Chrupalla Alice Weidel

151 / 630

15 / 96

275 / 1,893

ESN

Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands

SPD

Social democracy

Centre-left

Lars Klingbeil Saskia Esken

120 / 630

14 / 96

455 / 1,893

PES

S&D

Alliance 90/The Greens Bündnis 90/Die Grünen

Grüne

Green politics Social liberalism

Centre-left

Felix Banaszak Franziska Brantner

85 / 630

12 / 96

314 / 1,893

EGP

G/EFA

The Left Die Linke

Linke

Democratic socialism Left-wing populism

Left-wing

Jan van Aken Ines Schwerdtner

64 / 630

3 / 96

117 / 1,893

PEL

GUE/NGL

South Schleswig Voters' Association Südschleswigscher Wählerverband

SSW

Regionalism Danish interests Frisian interests

Christian Dirschauer

1 / 630

0 / 96

4 / 1,893

EFA

G/EFA

· Current parties › Parties represented in the European Parliament

Party		Abbr.	Ideology	Political position	Leader(s)	MEPs	MdLs	European party	EP group	Membership
	Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht	BSW	Socialism Cultural conservatism Left-wing populism	Left-wing to far-left	Sahra Wagenknecht Amira Mohamed Ali	5 / 96	47 / 1,893	—N/a	NI	3,000
	Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei	FDP	Liberalism Conservative liberalism Pro-Europeanism	Centre-right	Christian Dürr	5 / 96	72 / 1,893	ALDE	RE	70,000
	Free Voters Freie Wähler	FW	Liberal conservatism Regionalism Soft Euroscepticism	Centre-right	Hubert Aiwanger	3 / 96	43 / 1,893	EDP	RE	6,225
	Volt Germany Volt Deutschland	Volt	Social liberalism Pro-Europeanism European federalism	Centre-left	Lara Neumann Tim Marton	3 / 96	0 / 1,893	VOLT	G/EFA	8,572
	Die PARTEI Partei für Arbeit, Rechtsstaat, Tierschutz, Elitenförderung und basisdemokratische Initiative	Die PARTEI	Political satire Anti-fascism Environmentalism Pro-Europeanism	Left-wing	Martin Sonneborn	1 / 96	0 / 1,893	—N/a	NI	51,078
	Ecological Democratic Party Ökologisch-Demokratische Partei	ÖDP	Green conservatism	Centre-right	Christian Rechholz	1 / 96	0 / 1,893	EFA	EPP	8,035
	Party of Progress Partei des Fortschritts	PdF	Grassroots democracy Social liberalism Pro-Europeanism	Centre-left	Lukas Sieper	1 / 96	0 / 1,893	—N/a	NI	800
	Family Party of Germany Familien-Partei Deutschlands	Familie	Conservatism Familialism Christian democracy	Centre-right to right-wing	Helmut Geuking	1 / 96	0 / 1,893	ECPM	EPP	705
	Human Environment Animal Protection Party Partei Mensch Umwelt Tierschutz	PMUT	Animal rights Environmentalism	Left-wing	Aida Spiegeler Castaneda Marcel Krohn Robert Gabel	1 / 96	0 / 1,893	APEU	GUE/NGL	2,400