The political parties making up Germany's coalition government have each lost thousands of party members over the past year, according to a survey conducted by the German Press Agency.

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) — formerly headed by Chancellor Angela Merkel and now led by Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer — was worst hit with a loss of 11,000 members since the start of 2018. Its membership now stands at 415,000.

Membership of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the CDU's sister party in the southern state of Bavaria, fell from 141,400 at the beginning of 2018 to 139,000.

Read more: Germany's political parties CDU, CSU, SPD, AfD, FDP, Left party, Greens - what you need to know

The Social Democratic Party (SPD) also experienced a loss, with membership falling from 443,000 to just under 438,000.

Since the early 1990s, the CDU, CSU and SPD have seen their membership fall by about half. In 1990 the SPD had 943,000 members and the CDU and CSU together had more than 975,000 members.

Germany's major political parties — What you need to know Christian Democratic Union (CDU) The CDU has traditionally been the main center-right party across Germany, but it shifted toward the center under Chancellor Angela Merkel. The party remains more fiscally and socially conservative compared to parties on the left. It supports membership of the EU and NATO, budgetary discipline at home and abroad and generally likes the status quo. It is the largest party in the Bundestag.

Germany's major political parties — What you need to know Christian Social Union (CSU) The CSU is the sister party of the CDU in Bavaria and the two act symbiotically at the national level (CDU/CSU). Despite their similarities, the CSU is generally more conservative than the CDU on social issues. The CSU leader and premier of Bavaria, Markus Söder, ordered crosses in every state building in 2018.

Germany's major political parties — What you need to know Social Democrats (SPD) The SPD is Germany's oldest political party and the main center-left rival of the CDU/CSU. It shares the CDU/CSU support for the EU and NATO, but it takes a more progressive stance on social issues and welfare policies. It is currently in a coalition government with the CDU/CSU and is trying to win back support under interim leaders Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel, Manuela Schwesig and Malu Dreyer.

Germany's major political parties — What you need to know Alternative for Germany (AfD) The new kid on the block is the largest opposition party in the Bundestag. The far-right party was founded in 2013 and entered the Bundestag for the first time in 2017 under the stewardship of Alice Weidel and Alexander Gauland. It is largely united by opposition to Merkel's immigration policy, euroscepticism, and belief in the alleged dangers posed by Germany's Muslim population.

Germany's major political parties — What you need to know Free Democrats (FDP) The FDP has traditionally been the kingmaker of German politics. Although it has never received more than 15 percent of the vote, it has formed multiple coalition governments with both the CDU/CSU and SPD. The FDP, today led by Christian Lindner, supports less government spending and lower taxes, but takes a progressive stance on social issues such as gay marriage or religion.

Germany's major political parties — What you need to know The Greens The Greens, led today by Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck, emerged from the environmental movement in the 1980s. Unsuprisingly, it supports efforts to fight climate change and protect the environment. It is also progressive on social issues. But strong divisions have occasionally emerged on other topics. The party famously split in the late 1990s over whether to use military force in Kosovo.

Germany's major political parties — What you need to know The Left The Left, led by Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger, is the most left-wing party in the Bundestag. It supports major redistribution of wealth at home and a pacifist stance abroad, including withdrawing Germany from NATO. It emerged from the successor party to the Socialist Unity Party (SED) that ruled communist East Germany until 1989. Today, it still enjoys most of its support in eastern Germany. Author: Alexander Pearson



Far left and right parties gain members

Other major political parties experienced either no major loss of members, or an increase.

On Monday, Greens politician Michael Kellner told German newspaper Die Welt that the Green party had gained 10,246 new members to bring its total up to 75,311.

The Free Democratic Party gained just under 1,000 members, bringing its total almost 64,000.

The Left party numbers remained about the same, with 62,000 members.

The far-right Alternative for Germany party also gained about 1,000 members, bringing its total to 33,615.

Read more: AfD in the Bundestag: Can Germany learn from Scandinavia's far-right problem?

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From AKK to Ziemiak: 10 German political names to know in 2019 Robert Habeck: Bringing Greens even more into the mainstream? The possible threat to Merkel is down to a new generation of pragmatic, stylish leaders embodied by no one better than Green party co-leader Robert Habeck. His influence has led many people in Germany to talk about conservative-Green coalitions as being the way of the future. Habeck will be instrumental in determining the course the environmentalists choose to take in 2019.

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From AKK to Ziemiak: 10 German political names to know in 2019 Frank-Walter Steinmeier: Will he have to broker a government again? The German presidency is largely ceremonial, but when the parties are having trouble forming a government the president springs into action as a mediator. Frank-Walter Steinmeier did this after Merkel struggled to form a coalition following the 2017 election. Should the government break down in late 2019, the pragmatic SPD man and former German foreign minister would be called on again.

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From AKK to Ziemiak: 10 German political names to know in 2019 Paul Ziemiak: Will a Polish-born youngster drag the CDU to the right? He's 33, staunchly conservative, social-media savvy, Polish-born and the new operational head of Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union. His election as CDU general secretary reflects both the party's diversity and its desire to freshen up and have a counterweight to the centrists Merkel and Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. But will he fall afoul of his two female bosses? Author: Jefferson Chase (Berlin)



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