When the FDP failed to reach the five per cent threshold for the first time in 2013 and lost its parliamentary group, it was badly battered and, as an extra-parliamentary opposition, condemned to an existence as a marginal media phenomenon. Nevertheless, the Free Democrats succeeded in quickly reforming their party apparatus and communications and reorganising themselves in terms of content and personnel. The FDP is still benefiting from these measures. In the new extra-parliamentary opposition, it is therefore in a better position financially and organisationally than it was over 11 years ago. However, its former success and participation in the traffic light government also harbour obstacles to renewed renewal: the Free Democrats are engaged in a fundamental dispute over direction. Last but not least, it is a question of which unique selling points the FDP wants to use to retain more than 5 per cent of voters in the long term.
Should the party concentrate on the issues of ‘economy’ and ‘taxes’ or score points with other issues such as ‘climate’ and ‘social issues’ with other groups of voters? And what should be the unifying bond? The Free Democrats want to clarify these questions in a new basic programme process. Until then, the dispute over direction threatens to continue. It is already blocking a complete personnel renewal. The route via the federal states is also proving more difficult than it was in 2013, with the FDP now severely thinned out in the state parliaments and the electoral defeat weighing heavily on the ‘returnees’ from federal politics. Nevertheless, the future prospects for the FDP are not as bad as in 2013, but they are mixed and certainly challenging.
Read the entire monitor ’Zurück auf Los! Die FDP nach der Bundestagswahl 2025’ here as a PDF. Please note, to date the analysis is only available in German.
