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Conservative party in Bavaria, Germany
The Christian Social Union in Bavaria (German: Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayernⓘ, CSU) is a Christian democratic[6][7] and conservative[7][8][9][10] political party in Germany. Having a regionalist identity,[11][12] 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.[13] The CSU is considered the de facto successor of the Weimar-era Catholic Bavarian People's Party.[14]
At the federal level, the CSU forms a common faction in the Bundestag with the CDU which is frequently referred to as the Union Faction (die Unionsfraktion) or simply CDU/CSU. The CSU has had 44 seats in the Bundestag since the 2025 federal election,[15] making it currently the sixth largest of the seven parties represented and the largest parliamentary faction as part of CDU/CSU with 208 seats. The CSU is a member of the European People's Party and the International Democracy Union.
Party leader Markus Söder serves as Minister-President of Bavaria, a position that CSU representatives have held from 1946 to 1954 and again since 1957. From 1962 to 2008 and from 2013 to 2018, the CSU had the absolute majority in the Bavarian Landtag.
Chairman Franz Josef Strauß in 1976Franz Josef Strauß (1915–1988) had left behind the strongest legacy as a leader of the party, having led the party from 1961 until his death in 1988. His political career in the federal cabinet was unique in that he had served in four ministerial posts in the years between 1953 and 1969. From 1978 until his death in 1988, Strauß served as the Minister-President of Bavaria. Strauß was the first leader of the CSU to be a candidate for the German chancellery in 1980. In the 1980 federal election, Strauß ran against the incumbent Helmut Schmidt of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) but lost thereafter as the SPD and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) managed to secure an absolute majority together, forming a social-liberal coalition.
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 Bavaria Party and the state branches of the GB/BHE and FDP.
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. Edmund Stoiber took over the CSU leadership in 1999. He ran for Chancellor of Germany in 2002, but his preferred CDU/CSU–FDP coalition lost against the SPD candidate Gerhard Schröder's SPD–Green alliance.
In the 2003 Bavarian state election, the CSU won 60.7% of the vote and 124 of 180 seats in the state parliament. This was the first time any party had won a two-thirds majority in a German state parliament.[16] The Economist later suggested that this exceptional result was due to a backlash against Schröder's government in Berlin.[17] The CSU's popularity declined in subsequent years. Stoiber stepped down from the posts of Minister-President and CSU chairman in September 2007. A year later, the CSU lost its majority in the 2008 Bavarian state election, with its vote share dropping from 60.7% to 43.4%. The CSU remained in power by forming a coalition with the FDP. In the 2009 general election, the CSU received only 42.5% of the vote in Bavaria in the 2009 election, which by then constituted its weakest showing in the party's history.
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 2018 Bavarian state election yielded the worst result for the CSU in the state elections (top candidate Markus Söder) since 1950 with 37.2% of votes, a decline of over ten percentage points compared to the last result in 2013. After that, the CSU had to form a new coalition government with the minor partner Free Voters of Bavaria.
The 2021 German federal election saw the worst election result ever for the Union.[18] The CSU also had a weak showing with 5.2% of votes nationally and 31.7% of the total in Bavaria. In the 2023 Bavarian state election, the CSU remained on 85 seats (with 37.0% of the vote) and continued its coalition government with the Free Voters.
In the 2025 German federal election the CSU received 37.2% votes in Bavaria.[19]
Ideology and platform[edit]The CSU pledges to support small and medium enterprises, opposing tax increases on these companies. In the 2006 fiscal year, the CSU presented a budget for Bavaria that was the first state to have no new debt, achieved primarily through rigorous spending cuts by all ministries. The party also states that for a new regulation to be introduced, an old regulation must be eliminated. [20]
The CSU is considered socially conservative and more conservative than the CDU. The party calls for harsher punishments for those that break the blasphemy law in Germany.[21]
The CSU relies on the three-tier school system and justifies it in the dispute over comprehensive schools with Bavaria's good results in the PISA study. The multi-tier school system in Bavaria is seen as flexible, since all Bavarian secondary schools enable their students to obtain an intermediate school certificate. [22]
For a long time, the CSU supported the charging of tuition fees, but in October 2012 parts of the CSU, in particular CSU chairman Horst Seehofer, were already considering abolishing them.[23] In April 2013, the Bavarian State Parliament decided to abolish tuition fees, with the support of some CSU members.[24]
The CSU strongly opposes a general speed limit on Bavarian motorways.[25]
Relationship with the CDU[edit]The CSU is the sister party of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).[26] Together, they are called the Union.[26] The CSU operates only within Bavaria, and the CDU operates in all states other than Bavaria. While virtually independent,[27] 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.[28]
Since its formation, the CSU has been more conservative than the CDU.[8][example needed] CSU and the state of Bavaria decided not to sign the Grundgesetz of the Federal Republic of Germany as they could not agree with the division of Germany into two states after World War II. Although Bavaria like all German states has a separate police and justice system (distinctive and non-federal), the CSU has actively participated in all political affairs of the German Parliament, the German government, the German Bundesrat, the parliamentary elections of the German President, the European Parliament and meetings with Mikhail Gorbachev in Russia.
Like the CDU, the CSU is pro-European, although some Eurosceptic tendencies were shown in the past.[29]
Ministers-president[edit]The CSU has contributed eleven of the twelve Ministers-President of Bavaria since 1945, with only Wilhelm Hoegner (1945–1946, 1954–1957) of the SPD also holding the office.
Regional Leadership[edit] Federal parliament (Bundestag)[edit] 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 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 2025 3,271,730 6.6 (#6) 2,963,732 6.0 (#6) 44 / 630 1 CDU/CSU–SPD European Parliament[edit] 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 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 2024 2,513,300 6.3 (#5) 6 / 96 Landtag of Bavaria[edit] 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{{cite journal}}
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