Bavarian Christian Social Union

La Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU; Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayern e.V. (?·i)) is a German political party of demochristian and conservative ideology. Founded in 1945, the CSU is only active in the federated state of Bavaria and has been led since January 2019 by Markus Söder, Minister-President of Bavaria.

In the German Parliament, the CSU forms a joint parliamentary group with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), its equivalent in the other federal states of Germany. However, the positions of the two parties do not always coincide, and CSU politics are sometimes more conservative.

History

The Christian Social Union of Bavaria was founded in 1945, after the end of the Second World War, claiming to be the heir of the Bavarian People's Party, the Catholic, nationalist and most traditionalist branch of the Center Party of the Weimar Republic (1918 -1933). Since its creation, the CSU has only stood in the elections in Bavaria, where it has won all the historic elections after the war: from 1962 to 2008 the CSU was victorious with an absolute majority of seats, and from 1970 to 2008 he did it with more than 50% of the votes. One of his greatest successes was the 2003 Bavarian elections, in which he won 60.7% of the vote and more than two-thirds of the seats in the Bavarian parliament. However, in the Bavarian elections of September 28, 2008 it fell to 43.4% of the vote, which also meant the loss of the absolute majority in the Bavarian Regional Parliament. Therefore, for the first time in more than forty years, it needed a coalition partner to remain in government, being forced to close a government pact with the Free Democratic Party (FDP). In the 2013 Bavarian elections, however, the CSU regained an absolute majority, once again being able to govern alone. In the 2018 Bavarian state elections, the CSU suffered considerable losses and again lost its absolute majority, being forced to form a coalition government with the Freie Wähler.

In 1983 a minority sector of the CSU, made up of militants dissatisfied with the policies of President Franz Josef Strauß, decided to leave the party and in turn created the far-right party Die Republikaner. The new party He managed to reap some successes during the following years, uniting sectors of the extreme right around himself, although since then his influence has declined.

Historically, the Bavarian minister-president has almost always belonged to the CSU, except for two short periods between 1945 and 1946 and between 1954 and 1957, when a coalition government of all Bavarian political forces was formed except for the CSU, in both cases under Minister-President Wilhelm Hoegner, of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

Relations with the CDU

The CSU is the sister party of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The CSU's sphere of action is limited exclusively to the territory of Bavaria, while the CDU operates in the rest of Germany, but not in Bavaria. Although theoretically they are two independent parties, at the federal level, the parties form a common faction under the name of CDU/CSU, better known as "La Unión". However, since 1949 no federal chancellor has proceeded from the CSU, although Strauß and Edmund Stoiber were CDU candidates in the 1980 and 2002 federal elections. In Strauß's case, his claim to be Federal Chancellor was a disaster, as the CDU/CSU fared poorly in the 1980 elections, and Strauß even fared poorly in Bavaria. In both cases the Bavarian candidates for Chancellorship were outperformed by the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Beyond issues at the federal level, in other areas the two parties are totally independent.

Since its creation, the CSU has maintained more conservative policies than the CDU.

Franz Josef Strauß, the most emblematic politician of the CSU.

Election results

Bavarian Elections

Bavarian federated state, where the CSU heads the government.

Electoral posters in Nuremberg for the 1961 federal elections.

Year	# Of direct votes	# of votes list	% of list votes	# of seats obtained	+/-	Government
Jun. 1946		1,587.595	58.3	109/180		Most Government
Dec. 1946		1,593.908	52.2	104/180	5	Most Government
1950	1,264,993	1,262,377	27.4	64/204	40	Coalition with SPD
1954	1,855,995	1,835,959	37.9	83/204	19	Opposition
1958	2,101.645	2,091,259	45.5	101/204	18	Coalition with GB/BHE
1962	2,343,169	2,320,359	47.5	108/204	7	Most Government
1966	2.549.610	2,524,732	48.1	110/204	2	Most Government
1970	3,205,170	3,139,429	56.4	124/204	14	Most Government
1974	3,520,065	3,481,486	62.0	132/204	8	Most Government
1978	3,394,096	3,387,995	59.1	129/204	3	Most Government
1982	3,557,068	3,534,375	58.2	133/204	4	Most Government
1986	3,142,094	3,191,640	55.7	128/204	5	Most Government
1990	3,007,566	3,085,948	54.9	127/204	1	Most Government
1994	3,063,635	3,100,253	52.8	120/204	7	Most Government
1998	3,168,996	3,278,768	52.9	123/204	3	Most Government
2003	3,050,456	3,167,408	60.6	124/180	1	Most Government
2008	2.267,521	2,336,439	43.4	92/187	32	Coalition with FDP
2013	2.754,256	2,882,169	47.7	101/180	9	Most Government
2018	2,495,186	2.550.895	37.2	85/205	16	Coalition with FW

Federal Elections

Year	# Of direct votes	# Of votes by list	% of votes by list	# Of obtained	+/-
1949		1,380,448	5.8	24/402
1953	2,450,286	2,427,387	8.8	52/509	28
1957	3,186,150	3,133,060	10.5	55/519	3
1961	3,104,742	3,014,471	9.6	50/521	5
1965	3,204,648	3.136,506	9.6	49/518	1
1969	3,094,176	3,115,652	9.5	49/518	0
1972	3.620.625	3,615,183	9.7	48/518	1
1976	4,008,514	4,027,499	10.6	53/518	5
1980	3,941,365	3,908,459	10.3	52/519	1
1983	4,318,800	4,140,865	10.6	53/520	1
1987	3,859,244	3,715,827	9.8	49/519	4
1990	3,423,904	3,302,980	7.1	51/662	2
1994	3,657,627	3,427,196	7.3	50/672	1
1998	3,602,472	3,324,480	6.8	47/669	3
2002	4,311,178	4,315,080	9.0	58/603	11
2005	3.899.0	3,494,309	7.4	46/614	12
2009	3,191,000	2,830,238	6.5	45/620	1
2013	3,544,079	3,243,569	7.4	56/631	11
2017	3,255,487	2,869,688	6.2	46/709	10
2021	2,788,048	2,402,827	5.2	45/736	1

European Parliament elections

Year	# Of vows	% of votes	# of seats obtained	+/-
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	0
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 (#3)	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