The Landtag of Thuringia is the parliament of the German federal state of Thuringia. It convenes in Erfurt and currently consists of 88 members from five parties. According to the free state's constitution, the primary functions of the Landtag are to pass laws, elect the Minister-President and control the government of Thuringia.
Matthias "Max" Otte is an economist, publicist and political activist who holds German and U.S. citizenship. Otte, who has held professorships in Worms, Graz and Erfurt, is currently a fund manager. He has written several bestsellers, mainly on financial policy topics.
Hans-Georg Maaßen is a German civil servant and lawyer. From 1 August 2012 to 8 November 2018, he served as the President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic security agency and one of three agencies in the German Intelligence Community. Maaßen is one of the founders and, since January 2023 also president, of the Values Union, a German registered association, converted in 2024 to a political party, that consists mostly of more conservative members of the Christian Democratic Union.
Federal elections were held in Germany on 26 September 2021 to elect the members of the 20th Bundestag. State elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were also held. Incumbent chancellor Angela Merkel, first elected in 2005, chose not to run again, marking the first time that an incumbent Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany did not seek re-election.
An indirect presidential election was held in Germany on 13 February 2022 to elect the next president of Germany.
The 2018 Christian Democratic Union leadership election took place during the party's 31st Congress in Hamburg at the Messehallen convention center on 7–8 December following Angela Merkel's decision in October 2018 not to stand for party leader at the 2018 party conference following the party's bad performance in the 2018 Hessian state election and the party's consistently low numbers in national polls.
The 2024 European Parliament election in Germany was held on 9 June 2024. It was the tenth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first European Parliament election after Brexit.
Der Flügel is a far-right faction within Germany's Alternative for Germany, a right-wing populist opposition party. The group was led by Björn Höcke and Andreas Kalbitz. Approximately 20 percent of AfD members are organized also in the "Flügel". Following the request by the AfD executive board to dissolve Der Flügel by the end of April 2020, the group's online presence went offline. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) has no reliable knowledge of an actual dissolution. Within the party, Der Flügel now calls itself the "social-patriotic faction".
Dirk Spaniel is a German politician. Dirk Spaniel has served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Baden-Württemberg since 2017.
The 2020 Thuringian government crisis, also known as the Thuringia crisis, was triggered by the election of Thomas Kemmerich (FDP) as Thuringian Minister President with votes from the AfD, CDU and FDP on 5 February 2020. The election attracted considerable national and international attention because, for the first time in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany, a Minister President was elected with votes from a far-right populist party, in this case the AfD.
A federal election will be held in Germany on 23 February 2025 to elect the 630 members of the 21st Bundestag. Originally scheduled for 28 September 2025, the elections were brought forward due to the collapse of the governing coalition during the 2024 German government crisis. It is the fourth snap election in the history of post-war Germany after those in 1972, 1983 and 2005.
Freie Sachsen is a far-right monarchist, autonomist, and secessionist movement within the German State of Saxony. It seeks to restore the former Kingdom of Saxony through an autonomist government or a "Saexit if Necessary".
Bündnis Deutschland is a minor German political party founded in November 2022. It is led by Steffen Grosse, the former leader of the Free Voters of Saxony and a former Christian Democratic Union member. It describes itself as politically between the Christian Democrats and the Alternative for Germany.
Ralf Höcker is a German lawyer und author. He is involved in several factions within the CDU. In public perception, he is noted for numerous high-profile legal mandates related to the press and recurring media presence.
On 25 November 2023, a group of right-wing extremists met at the Adlon Mansion on Lake Lehnitz in Potsdam, Germany. At the event, Martin Sellner, an Austrian right-wing extremist presented a plan for the deportation of certain parts of the German populace, namely asylum seekers, foreigners with a residence permit, and "non-assimilated" German citizens. The meeting was attended by members of the German right-wing populist party AfD, the mainstream centre-right party Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Werteunion, and the far-right Identitarian movement, among others. The meeting was exposed by the investigative journalism organization Correctiv, which published its findings on 10 January 2024.
The Citizens for Thuringia was a political party in Thuringia in Germany between 2020 and 2024. After party defections, it was represented in the Landtag of Thuringia with four seats. The party dissolved in 2024 to join the Values Union. The association of the same name, however, remained in existence.
The concept of the "firewall against the far-right" in Germany represents a strategic approach and political demand within civil society and political circles. It focuses on the dynamics between mainstream political parties and far-right entities such as the AfD and Die Heimat. The primary objective is to prevent mainstream parties from endorsing anti-democratic elements and to discourage alignment with or rapproachment towards far-right ideologies, advocating instead for a policy of non-cooperation with these parties.
This is a list of candidates for the 2025 German federal election.
