Elections – Freiburg im Breisgau:Political scientist: CDU in cities only one of many
Directly from the dpa news channel
Freiburg (dpa) – The CDU is losing the People’s Party label, especially in cities. “The CDU came close to this model for a long time, but today – according to the data – in urban milieus it is only one of many competitors,” declared the Freiburg political scientist Uwe Wagschal on the Monday after the state elections in Baden-Württemberg, which the Christian Democrats attended had achieved historically poor results.
“The concept of the People’s Party is a model from the old Federal Republic with a two-and-a-half party system made up of CDU / CSU, SPD and FDP,” said Wagschal. Today the party landscape is much more differentiated, but also more fragmented. The 40 percent mark used to be a criterion for a people’s party; that can only be achieved by the CSU in Bavaria and thus also cover all relevant groups in society.
According to Wagschal, most of the nationally visible parties are now programmatically “full-range suppliers” and try to offer something for as many social groups as possible. “This means that a certain arbitrariness becomes visible. The election programs, which are often over 150 pages long, make this clear.”
In addition, the traditional milieus of the parties are dissolving, this applies equally to the “old” popular parties CDU / CSU and SPD. “Incidentally, also in a European comparison,” added the professor of comparative government. “This trend can sometimes only be countered by particularly visible and popular candidates, as you can see in Austria with ÖVP Chancellor Kurz.”
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210315-99-834086 / 2
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