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.
Current parties
Parties represented in the Bundestag
Party Ideology Politicalposition Leader(s) MdBs MEPs MdLs EUparty EPgroup Membership Christian Democratic Union CDU Friedrich Merz EPP EPP 356,769 (2025 ) Christian Social Union in Bavaria CSU Centre-right Markus Söder EPP EPP 125,300 (2024) Alternative for Germany AfD Far-right ESN ESN 75,000 (July 2026) Social Democratic Party of Germany SPD Social democracy Centre-left PES S&D 348,451 (2025) Alliance 90/The Greens Grüne Centre-left EGP G/EFA 166,000 (February 2025) The Left Linke Left-wing PEL GUE/NGL 123,126 (December 2025) South Schleswig Voters' Association SSW Christian Dirschauer EFA G/EFA 3,216 (2020)
Parties represented in the European Parliament
Party Ideology Politicalposition Leader(s) MEPs MdLs Europeanparty EPgroup Membership Alliance for Social Justice and Economic Reason BSW Left-wingto far-left NI 11,200 (December 2025) Free Democratic Party FDP Centre-right Wolfgang Kubicki ALDE RE 70,000 (November 2024) Free Voters FW Centre-right Hubert Aiwanger EDP RE 6,225 (2020) Volt Germany Volt Centre-left VOLT G/EFA 8,572 Die PARTEI Die PARTEI Left-wing Martin Sonneborn NI 51,078 Ecological Democratic Party ÖDP Green conservatism Centre-right Christian Rechholz EFA EPP 8,035Party of ProgressPdF Centre-left Lukas Sieper RE 800 Family Party of Germany Familie Helmut Geuking ECPM EPP 705 Human Environment Animal Protection Party PMUT Left-wing APEU GUE/NGL 2,400
Parties only represented in state parliaments Name Ideology Political position Result in 2021 federal election Leader(s) MdLs State(s) Membership Alliance Germany BD Conservatism Centre-right to right-wing - (did not exist) Steffen Grosse Bremen - ECR 1,000Values UnionWURight-wing – (did not exist)Hans-Georg Maaßen Lower Saxony – –4,000 Thuringia.Just TG - - - (did not exist) Katja Wolf Thuringia - - -
Minor parties Name Leader(s) Ideology Political position EP group MembershipAction Citizens for JusticeABGAlfred DornDirect democracyAlternative medicineRight-wing populismNationalismRight-wing121Action Party for Animal WelfareTierschutz hier!Thomas SchwarzAnimal rightsAnimal welfareSingle-issue 50 Alliance C – Christians for Germany Bündnis C Karin Heepen & Ole Steffes ConservatismChristian fundamentalism Right-wing ECPM 1,078 Alliance for Human Rights, Animal and Nature Protection Tierschutzallianz Josef Fassl Animal rights Single-issue 97 Alliance for Innovation and Justice BIG Haluk Yildiz Political Islam 2,000 Alliance of German Democrats AD-Demokraten Ramazan Akbaş ConservatismPolitical Islam2,500 AlphaHHP AlphaHHP Anti-vaccination Anarchist Pogo Party of Germany APPD Peter Vehreschild Satire Apoliticism 2,512 Arminius – Association of the German People Arminius – Bund Johann Thießen Russia German interestsGerman nationalismNeo-nazism Far-right40Awakening Peace-Sovereignty-JusticeAufbruchRussophilia AntimilitarismAnti-AtlanticismRight-wingAssociation for Freedom and HumanityAnton StuckiLiberalism40 Basic Income Alliance BGE Martin Sonnabend Single-issue 350GFAUwe BjorckUniversal basic incomeSingle-issue 27 Bavaria Party BP Florian Weber AutonomismBavarian nationalismRegionalismConservatism Centre-right EFA 3,926 Bergpartei, die "ÜberPartei" B* Yanachasca Laso Solari Post-left anarchyDadaism Far-left 229 Brandenburg United Civic Movements/Free Voters BVB/FW Péter Vida Regionalism910 German Centre Party ZENTRUM Christian Otte Centre-right 300 Climate List Germany KL Fabian Aisenbrey, Doris Vollmer Climate change mitigation234Citizens for GermanyBfDDirect democracyCitizens for Progress and ChangeBFWUwe HückProgressivismCentre-left 170Civic and Economic-Ecological UnionBWUnionLiberalismNationalism Civil Rights Movement Solidarity BüSo Helga Zepp-LaRouche LaRouche movement Syncretic 556 Communist Party KP Central Committee CommunismMarxism–LeninismAnti-revisionism Far-left Communist Party of Germany KPD Torsten Schöwitz CommunismMarxism–LeninismAnti-revisionismStalinism Far-left 165Democratic Alliance for Diversity and AwakeningDAVATeyfik OzcanTurkish minority interestsErdoğanism1,000Democratic Union of GermanyDVDWerner KrügerReformismDirect democracyUniversal basic incomeDemocratic Liberal LEAGUELIGAThomas H. StützConservatismCentre-rightDemocracy DIRECT!DIE DIREKTE!Christian RombeckDirect democracy 34Democratic LeftDLEckehart EhrenbergDemocratic socialismLeft-wing 43ÖkoLinXGrassroots democracyEco-socialismAnti-fascismLeft-wing to far-left 350Ecological-Left Liberal Democratic PartyÖLDPBérangère BultheelSocial democracySocial liberalismEuropean FederalismCentre-left 70Educate Berlin!Bildet Berlin!Florian Bublys, Tamara AdamzikEducation reformSingle-issue 50LIEBEEuropean federalismSubsidized marriage 53 Feminist Party The Women DIE FRAUEN Renate Schmidtsdorff-Aicher Feminism 400Free Citizens' UnionFBUWalter PfleidererNational liberalismConservatismNationalismRight-wingFree HorizonFREiER HORIZONTNorbert SchumacherAnti-Wind turbineSingle-issue40 Free Saxons FS Martin Kohlmann Saxon monarchismRegionalism Right-wing to Far-right1,200 Volksabstimmung Helmut Fleck Direct DemocracyNationalism Right-wing 350Future.Z.Lasse LorenzenRegionalism 112future!Stephan BublitzYouth interestsGarden PartyGartenparteiRoland ZanderPro-AllotmentEnvironmentalism 349German CentreDMSven HütherRight-wing populismAnti-vaccinationRight-wing 500German ConservativesDeutsche KonservativeDieter JochimConservatismNational conservatismCentre-right to right-wing 380 German Communist Party DKP Patrik Köbele CommunismMarxism–Leninism Far-left 2,850 German Land Economy DLW Benjamin Meise Farmer interests 15 German Party – The FreedomitesDPGerd-Uwe DahlmannNational conservatismGerman nationalismRight-wing populismRight-wing250German Sports PartyDSPMichael MöllerGrassroots democracySport for social developmentAnti-Doping German Social Union DSU Roberto Rink National conservatismSocial conservatism Right-wing 1,060Germans Originating from all of Germany (Autochthons)AGsDHorst ZaborowskiNationalismIrredentismDirect democracy Grassroots Democratic Party of Germany dieBasis Reiner Fuellmich, Viviane Fischer Anti-lockdownAnti-vaccination 18,988Bundeswahlausschuss: Entscheidung über die Zulassung von Parteien zur Bundestagswahl (1), Minute 78Good-People-PartyGut-MenschenCarl Philipp TrumpLeft-wingHuman Economy PartyHumanwirtschaftDieter MüllerFreiwirtschaft110Human world - for the well-being and happiness of allMENSCHLICHE WELTMichael MoritzProgressive utilization theoryAnti-vaccinationPacifism 669INDEPENDENTS for citizen-friendly democracyUNABHÄNGIGEWerner FischerNon-partisan democracyDirect democracy 86 Liberal Democrats – The Social Liberals LD Bernd Grothkopp Social liberalism 100Lobbyists for ChildrenLfKJohanna Nelkner, Fabio LibonatiChildren's rights 100 Lusatian Alliance Hannes Wilhelm-Kell RegionalismProgressivismEthnic minority interests90 Marxist–Leninist Party of Germany MLPD Gabi Fechtner Marxism–LeninismCommunism Far-left 2,800 Mindful Democrats Die AchtsamenModern Social PartyMSP mut mut Claudia Stamm Social liberalism Centre-left 400MERA25MERA25Julijana ZitaProgressivismDirect democracyLeft-wingDiEM252,000National Democratic Party of GermanyNPDLennart SchwarzbachNeo-NazismFar-rightneo. Wellbeing for allneo.Jörg GastmannEconomic Balance SystemUniversal basic incomeGrassroots democracyNew Strength PartyNSPSara Storch, Christoph ThewsNeo-NazismFar-right100One for all - PartyEine für AlleGrassroots democracy 13 Party for Franconia DIE FRANKEN Robert Gattenlöhner Regionalism 237 Party for Rejuvenation Research Felix Werth Single-issue politicsSingle-issue 289 Party of Humanists PdHFelicitas KlingsHumanismSecularismCivil libertarianismSocial liberalism 2,350 Party of Reason PdV Friedrich Dominicus Right-libertarianismEuroscepticism Right-wing EPIL 352PETOPETOLydia HannawaldYouth interests400 Pirate Party Germany PIRATEN Borys Sobieski Centre-left Greens/EFA 5,541Renters PartyMIETERPARTEIAnke Hahn, Hartmut BräunlichAnti-high rent Tenant rightsCentre-left 50Saxon People's PartySVPMirko SchmidtNationalism Far-rightSGV – Solidarity, Equity, Change SGVAnti-corruption Socialist Equality Party SGP Ulrich Rippert Trotskyism Far-left 276Standing up socially just intelligent partyAufstehenparteiPaul WeilerLeft-wing populismCentre-left to Left-wingStatt PartySTATTRobert W. HugoPopulism200Transnational Unity, Solidarity, and Libertarianism AdvocatesTESLANorbert WieswegSinti and Romani interests The Justice Party – Team Todenhöfer Jürgen Todenhöfer Anti-militarismPopulism5,314 The Glass clear DGK Marie-José Velonjara Social democracyPopulismThe FederalsDIE FÖDERALENMaren ZaidanLiberalismFederalismProgressivismThe Grays – For all GenerationsDie GrauenMichael SchulzIntergenerationality 135 The Homeland HEIMAT Peter Schreiber Neo-NazismUltranationalismPan-GermanismAnti-immigrationRevanchism Far-right APF 3,000The House of GermanyDHDEgbert BeslerConstitutionalismSocial democracyThe ReformersREFORMERErich SchusterLiberalismPro-Europeanism The III. PathIII. Weg Matthias Fischer Neo-NazismStrasserismEthnic nationalismGerman nationalismHard Euroscepticism Far-right 642 The ModernityMartin MartensCentrismCentreThe New CentreNMChristoph HörstelSovereignismEuroscepticismAnti-vaccinationRussophiliaRight-wing The New DemocratsSecurityThe LibertariansDIE LIBERTÄRENDr. Mathias HummelLibertarianismLaissez-faireEconomic liberalismTHE OTHERSsonstigeDemocratic confederalismProgressivismAnti-militarismLeft-wing 171The Party of SorbiansPDSLars KrausePolitical satireSorbian SeparatismAnti-militarism The Pink/ Alliance21BÜNDNIS21Anti-corruption 450 The Republicans REP Tilo Schöne German nationalismNational conservatismEuroscepticismSocial conservatism Right-wing4,533The Sharks – Party with biteHAIEJan Heie ErchingerPragmatismCentre The Peace PartyMahmoud AhmedPacifism The Urbans. A HipHop Party du Niki Drakos, Raphael Hillebrand Social justiceEnvironmentalism 303 The Violets Die Violetten Irene Garcia Garcia SpiritualismDirect democracyEnvironmentalism 678Thuringian Homeland PartyTHPTimo Pradel 56 We Citizens LKR Jürgen Joost Centre-right to right-wing ECR Party 1,000 V-Partei³ – Party for Change, Vegetarians and Vegans V³ Roland Wegner Animal rightsEnvironmentalism 1,200Waying CAndreas EppChristian democracyConservatismRight-wing 74 WiR2020 W2020 Wolfgang Romberg, Sonja Früh Anti-vaccinationismAnti-lockdown4,600
Historical parties
Defunct parties in the Federal Republic of Germany