Free Democratic Party (Germany)

Free Democratic Party
Freie Demokratische Partei
AbbreviationFDP
ChairmanChristian Lindner
General SecretaryBijan Djir-Sarai
Parliamentary leaderChristian Dürr
Founded12 December 1948; 75 years ago (1948-12-12)
Merger of
HeadquartersHans-Dietrich-Genscher-Haus
Reinhardtstraße 14
10117 Berlin
Newspaperfdplus
Youth wingYoung Liberals
Women's wingLiberal Women
LGBT wingLiberal Gay, Lesbians, Bi, Trans and Queer
University wingFederal Associations of Liberal College Groups
FoundationFriedrich Naumann Foundation
Membership (March 2024)Decrease 72,000 est.[1]
IdeologyLiberalism (German)
Political positionCentre-right
European affiliationAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
European Parliament groupRenew Europe
International affiliationLiberal International
Colours
  •   Yellow
  •   Pink
  •   Cyan[2]
Bundestag
91 / 735
Bundesrat
2 / 69
State Parliaments
67 / 1,894
European Parliament
5 / 96
Party flag
Website
www.fdp.de Edit this at Wikidata

The Free Democratic Party (German: Freie Demokratische Partei, FDP, German pronunciation: [ɛfdeːˈpeː] ) is a liberal[3][4] political party in Germany.

The FDP was founded in 1948 by members of former liberal political parties which existed in Germany before World War II, namely the German Democratic Party and the German People's Party. For most of the second half of the 20th century, particularly from 1961 to 1982, the FDP held the balance of power in the Bundestag.[5] It has been a junior coalition partner to both the CDU/CSU (1949–1956, 1961–1966, 1982–1998 and 2009–2013) and Social Democratic Party (SPD) (1969–1982, 2021–present). In the 2013 federal election, the FDP failed to win any directly elected seats in the Bundestag and came up short of the 5 percent threshold to qualify for list representation, being left without representation in the Bundestag for the first time in its history.[6] In the 2017 federal election, the FDP regained its representation in the Bundestag, receiving 10.6% of the vote. After the 2021 federal election the FDP became part of governing Scholz cabinet in coalition with the Social Democratic Party and the Greens.

Since the 1980s, the party, consistently with its ordoliberal tradition, has pushed economic liberalism and has aligned itself closely to the promotion of free markets and privatization, and is aligned to the centre[7][8] or centre-right[9] of the political spectrum. The FDP is a member of the Liberal International, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and Renew Europe.

  1. ^ Weiland, Severin (March 2024). "FDP streitet vor Parteitag über höhere Hürden für Mitgliederbefragung". Der Spiegel (in German).
  2. ^ "Freie Demokratische Partei. Gestaltungsfreiheiten".
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Marks was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Breukers was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Mark N. Franklin; Thomas T. Mackie; Henry Valen (2009). Electoral Change: Responses to Evolving Social and Attitudinal Structures in Western Countries. ECPR Press. p. 186. ISBN 978-0-955-82031-1.
  6. ^ "Ergebnisse der FDP bei den jeweils letzten Landtagswahlen in den Bundesländern bis 2021". Statista.
  7. ^ Pollach, Günter; Wischermann, Jörg; Zeuner, Bodo, eds. (2000). Ein nachhaltig anderes Parteiensystem: Profile und Beziehungen von Parteien in ostdeutschen Kommunen – Ergebnisse einer Befragung von Kommunalpolitikern. Lesker + Budrich. p. 116. ISBN 978-3-322-93227-3.
  8. ^ "Free Democratic Party (FDP)". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  9. ^