Christian Social Union in Bavaria
Christian Social Union in Bavaria Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayern | ||
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Bundesrat 4 / 6 (Bavarian seats) | ||
Landtag of Bavaria | 85 / 205 | |
European Parliament | 6 / 96 | |
Heads of State Governments | 1 / 16 | |
Party flag | ||
Website | ||
csu | ||
This article is part of a series on |
Conservatism in Germany |
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The Christian Social Union in Bavaria (German: ⓘ, CSU) is a Christian democratic[5][6] and conservative[6][7][8][9] political party in Germany. Having a regionalist identity,[10][11] the CSU operates only in Bavaria while its larger counterpart, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), operates in the other fifteen states of Germany. It differs from the CDU by being somewhat more conservative in social matters, following Catholic social teaching.[12] The CSU is considered the de facto successor of the Weimar-era Catholic Bavarian People's Party.[13]
At the federal level, the CSU forms a common faction in the
Party leader
History
The CSU has led the Bavarian state government since it came into existence in 1946, save from 1954 to 1957 when the SPD formed a state government in coalition with the
Initially, the separatist Bavaria Party (BP) successfully competed for the same electorate as the CSU, as both parties saw and presented themselves as successors to the BVP. The CSU was ultimately able to win this power struggle for itself. Among other things, the BP was involved in the "casino affair" under dubious circumstances by the CSU at the end of the 1950s and lost considerable prestige and votes. In the 1966 state election, the BP finally left the state parliament.
Before the 2008 elections in Bavaria, the CSU perennially achieved absolute majorities at the state level by itself. This level of dominance is unique among Germany's 16 states.
In the
The CSU made gains in the 2013 Bavarian state election and the 2013 federal election, which were held a week apart in September 2013. The CSU regained their majority in the Bavarian Landtag and remained in government in Berlin. They had three ministers in the Fourth Merkel cabinet, namely Horst Seehofer (Minister of the Interior, Building and Community), Andreas Scheuer (Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure) and Gerd Müller (Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development).
The
The 2021 German federal election saw the worst election result ever for the Union.[17] The CSU also had a weak showing with 5.2% of votes nationally and 31.7% of the total in Bavaria.
Relationship with the CDU
The CSU is the sister party of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).[18] Together, they are called the Union.[18] The CSU operates only within Bavaria, and the CDU operates in all states other than Bavaria. While virtually independent,[19] at the federal level the parties form a common CDU/CSU faction. No Chancellor has ever come from the CSU, although Strauß and Edmund Stoiber were CDU/CSU candidates for Chancellor in the 1980 federal election and the 2002 federal election, respectively, which were both won by the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Below the federal level, the parties are entirely independent.[20]
Since its formation, the CSU has been more
Like the CDU, the CSU is
Leaders
Party chairmen
Chairman | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
1st | Josef Müller | 17 December 1945 | 28 May 1949 |
2nd | Hans Ehard | 28 May 1949 | 22 January 1955 |
3rd | Hanns Seidel | 22 January 1955 | 16 February 1961 |
4th | Franz Josef Strauß
|
18 March 1961 | 3 October 1988 |
5th | Theodor Waigel
|
16 November 1988 | 16 January 1999 |
6th | Edmund Stoiber | 16 January 1999 | 29 September 2007 |
7th | Erwin Huber | 29 September 2007 | 25 October 2008 |
8th | Horst Seehofer | 25 October 2008 | 19 January 2019 |
9th | Markus Söder | 19 January 2019 | Present day |
Ministers-president
The CSU has contributed eleven of the twelve
Minister-President | From | To |
---|---|---|
Fritz Schäffer | 28 May 1945 | 28 September 1945 |
Hans Ehard (first time) | 21 December 1946 | 14 December 1954 |
Hanns Seidel | 16 October 1957 | 22 January 1960 |
Hans Ehard (second time) | 26 January 1960 | 11 December 1962 |
Alfons Goppel | 11 December 1962 | 6 November 1978 |
Franz Josef Strauss | 6 November 1978 | 3 October 1988 |
Max Streibl | 19 October 1988 | 27 May 1993 |
Edmund Stoiber | 28 May 1993 | 30 September 2007 |
Günther Beckstein | 9 October 2007 | 27 October 2008 |
Horst Seehofer | 27 October 2008 | 13 March 2018 |
Markus Söder | 16 March 2018 | Present day |
Election results
Federal parliament (Bundestag)
Election | Constituency | Party list | Seats | +/– | Status | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Votes | % | ||||
1949 | 1,380,448 | 5.8 (#4) | 24 / 402
|
CDU/CSU–FDP–DP | |||
1953 | 2,450,286 | 8.9 (#4) | 2,427,387 | 8.8 (#4) | 52 / 509
|
28 | CDU/CSU–FDP–DP |
1957 | 3,186,150 | 10.6 (#3) | 3,133,060 | 10.5 (#3) | 55 / 519
|
3 | CDU/CSU–DP |
1961 | 3,104,742 | 9.7 (#4) | 3,014,471 | 9.6 (#4) | 50 / 521
|
5 | CDU/CSU–FDP |
1965 | 3,204,648 | 9.9 (#3) | 3,136,506 | 9.6 (#3) | 49 / 518
|
1 | CDU/CSU–SPD |
1969 | 3,094,176 | 9.5 (#3) | 3,115,652 | 9.5 (#3) | 49 / 518
|
0 | Opposition |
1972 | 3,620,625 | 9.7 (#3) | 3,615,183 | 9.7 (#3) | 48 / 518
|
1 | Opposition |
1976 | 4,008,514 | 10.6 (#3) | 4,027,499 | 10.6 (#3) | 53 / 518
|
5 | Opposition |
1980 | 3,941,365 | 10.4 (#3) | 3,908,459 | 10.3 (#4) | 52 / 519
|
1 | Opposition (1980–82) |
CDU/CSU–FDP (1982–83) | |||||||
1983 | 4,318,800 | 11.1 (#3) | 4,140,865 | 10.6 (#3) | 53 / 520
|
1 | CDU/CSU–FDP |
1987 | 3,859,244 | 10.2 (#3) | 3,715,827 | 9.8 (#3) | 49 / 519
|
4 | CDU/CSU–FDP |
1990 | 3,423,904 | 7.4 (#4) | 3,302,980 | 7.1 (#4) | 51 / 662
|
2 | CDU/CSU–FDP |
1994 | 3,657,627 | 6.5 (#3) | 3,427,196 | 7.3 (#3) | 50 / 672
|
1 | CDU/CSU–FDP |
1998 | 3,602,472 | 7.3 (#3) | 3,324,480 | 6.8 (#3) | 47 / 669
|
3 | Opposition |
2002 | 4,311,178 | 9.0 (#3) | 4,315,080 | 9.0 (#3) | 58 / 603
|
11 | Opposition |
2005 | 3,889,990 | 8.2 (#3) | 3,494,309 | 7.4 (#6) | 46 / 614
|
12 | CDU/CSU–SPD |
2009 | 3,191,000 | 7.4 (#6) | 2,830,238 | 6.5 (#6) | 45 / 622
|
1 | CDU/CSU–FDP |
2013 | 3,544,079 | 8.1 (#4) | 3,243,569 | 7.4 (#5) | 56 / 631
|
11 | CDU/CSU–SPD |
2017 | 3,255,604 | 7.0 (#6) | 2,869,744 | 6.2 (#7) | 46 / 709
|
10 | CDU/CSU–SPD |
2021 | 2,787,904 | 6.0 (#6) | 2,402,826 | 5.2 (#6) | 45 / 735
|
1 | Opposition |
European Parliament
Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/– |
---|---|---|---|---|
1979 | 2,817,120 | 10.1 (#3) | 8 / 81
|
|
1984 | 2,109,130 | 8.5 (#3) | 7 / 81
|
1 |
1989 | 2,326,277 | 8.2 (#4) | 7 / 81
|
0 |
1994 | 2,393,374 | 6.8 (#4) | 8 / 99
|
1 |
1999 | 2,540,007 | 9.4 (#4) | 10 / 99
|
2 |
2004 | 2,063,900 | 8.0 (#4) | 9 / 99
|
1 |
2009 | 1,896,762 | 7.2 (#6) | 8 / 99
|
1 |
2014 | 1,567,258 | 5.3 (#6) | 5 / 96
|
3 |
2019 | 2,354,816 | 6.3 (#5) | 6 / 96
|
1 |
Landtag of Bavaria
Election | Constituency | Party list | Seats | +/– | Status | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Votes | % | ||||
1946 | 1,593,908 | 52.2 (#1) | 104 / 180
|
CSU–SPD | |||
1950 | 1,264,993 | 26.8 (#1) | 1,262,377 | 27.4 (#1) | 64 / 204
|
40 | CSU–SPD |
1954 | 1,855,995 | 37.6 (#1) | 1,835,959 | 37.9 (#1) | 83 / 204
|
19 | Opposition |
1958 | 2,101,645 | 44.8 (#1) | 2,091,259 | 45.5 (#1) | 101 / 204
|
18 | CSU–FDP–BHE |
1962 | 2,343,169 | 47.1 (#1) | 2,320,359 | 47.5 (#1) | 108 / 204
|
7 | CSU–BP |
1966 | 2,549,610 | 47.7 (#1) | 2,524,732 | 48.1 (#1) | 110 / 204
|
2 | CSU majority |
1970 | 3,205,170 | 56.2 (#1) | 3,139,429 | 56.4 (#1) | 124 / 204
|
14 | CSU majority |
1974 | 3,520,065 | 61.7 (#1) | 3,481,486 | 62.0 (#1) | 132 / 204
|
8 | CSU majority |
1978 | 3,394,096 | 58.5 (#1) | 3,387,995 | 59.1 (#1) | 129 / 204
|
3 | CSU majority |
1982 | 3,557,068 | 57.9 (#1) | 3,534,375 | 58.2 (#1) | 133 / 204
|
4 | CSU majority |
1986 | 3,142,094 | 54.9 (#1) | 3,191,640 | 55.7 (#1) | 128 / 204
|
5 | CSU majority |
1990 | 3,007,566 | 52.6 (#1) | 3,085,948 | 54.9 (#1) | 127 / 204
|
1 | CSU majority |
1994 | 3,063,635 | 52.2 (#1) | 3,100,253 | 52.8 (#1) | 120 / 204
|
7 | CSU majority |
1998 | 3,168,996 | 51.7 (#1) | 3,278,768 | 52.9 (#1) | 123 / 204
|
3 | CSU majority |
2003 | 3,050,456 | 59.3 (#1) | 3,167,408 | 60.6 (#1) | 124 / 180
|
1 | CSU majority |
2008 | 2,267,521 | 42.5 (#1) | 2,336,439 | 43.4 (#1) | 92 / 187
|
32 | CSU–FDP |
2013 | 2,754,256 | 46.5 (#1) | 2,882,169 | 47.7 (#1) | 101 / 180
|
9 | CSU majority |
2018 | 2,495,186 | 36.7 (#1) | 2,551,046 | 37.2 (#1) | 85 / 205
|
16 | CSU–FW |
2023 | 2,527,580 | 37.0 (#1) | 2,531,562 | 37.1 (#1) | 85 / 203
|
CSU-FW |
See also
Notes and references
- ^ "Bavaria's parties lose members". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). 8 February 2023.
- OCLC 461254258.
- ^ Klaus Detterbeck (2012). Multi-Level Party Politics in Western Europe. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 105.
- OCLC 885477730.
- ISBN 978-0-313-39181-1.
- ^ a b Nordsieck, Wolfram (2017). "Germany". Parties and Elections in Europe.
- ^ ISBN 9780521306485.
- ISBN 978-0-415-58466-1.
- ISBN 978-0-521-51568-9.
- ISBN 978-1-78471-567-0.
- (PDF) from the original on 10 October 2022.
- ^ "Streit in der CSU über Sozialpolitik entbrannt". Süddeutsche Zeitung. 19 May 2010.
- ISBN 9780816074716.
- ^ "Results – The Federal Returning Officer". bundeswahlleiter.de (in German). The Federal Returning Officer.
- ^ Clayton Clemens. "Stoiber – Dominant But Not Omnipotent". Archived 3 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine American Institute for Contemporary German Studies. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "The Economist: Old soldiers march into the unknown".
- ^ "Germany election: worst ever result momentarily silences CDU". the Guardian. 26 September 2021. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
- ^ a b "A Quick Guide to Germany's Political Parties". Der Spiegel. 25 September 2009. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-521-27793-8.
- ISBN 978-0-521-27793-8.
- ^ Vitzthum, Thomas (21 December 2018). "Plötzlich entdeckt die CSU ihre Zuneigung zur EU wieder". Die Welt. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
Further reading
- Alf Mintzel (1975). Die CSU. Anatomie einer konservativen Partei 1945–1972 (in German). Opladen. ISBN 9783531112787.