With the German federal election results close to complete, the votes going to the so-called 'people's parties' - Angela Merkel's CDU/CSU and the SPD in federal elections are at an historically low level - despite gains for the SPD. Together in 2021, they account for just half of all voters, with 49.8 percent of the vote. In 1990, their combined share was 77.3 percent of the vote. Experts interpret the diminishing appeal of the major parties as an expression of the fact that values, lifestyles, diverse world views, pluralism and diversity are becoming increasingly important as guiding ideas for society - leading to an increasing differentiation of political preferences.
As a result, parties such as the Greens and, to a lesser extent, the liberal FDP are gaining strength. With the far-right AfD, a new party also entered the Bundestag in 2013. The greater the divergence of citizens' preferences on issues such as Europe, migration, environmental protection, internal security, data protection, transport policy or digitization, the greater the potential for dissatisfaction and therefore ballots being cast in political places previously not considered.
