Queenmaker Once More? The FDP in the Super Election Year 2021

In this AGI webinar, Sven Hilgers, Ria Schröder, and Eric Langenbacher examine the FDP’s support since their last national governing coalition, policy priorities in the upcoming election campaign, and the possibilities re-entry into government after the 2021 Superwahljahr.

In recent years, no party has fluctuated as much in the polls and election results as the Free Democratic Party (FDP). From a record 14.6 percent result for the Bundestag in 2009, in 2013 it failed to reach the 5 percent threshold for representation, bouncing back with nearly 11 percent of the vote in 2017. Since then, the liberals dipped close to the 5 percent mark in polling, although more recently they have been in the 9-12 percent range. Results in state elections have varied, from 10.5 percent in Baden-Württemberg in 2021 to missing the threshold in Hamburg in 2020. What accounts for this volatility in support? Will the party be able to maintain its current level of support until the Bundestag election in September? Has the party been too rigid in its support of CDU-led governments with its neoliberal and center-right identity? And could it possibly become the queenmaker for a Chancellor Annalena Baerbock and a “traffic light” coalition? These are the questions addressed in the next webinar of the 2021 Bundestag election series at AGI.

Speakers:
Sven Hilgers, Member of the Berlin State Executive Committee of the FDP, Chair of the FDP Wedding, Chair of LFA Europe and International
Ria Schröder, Member of the Federal Executive Committee of the FDP, former chair of the Young Liberals
Eric Langenbacher, Senior Fellow; Director, Society, Culture & Politics Program, AGI

This webinar is supported by the AGI Harry & Helen Gray Culture and Politics Program and the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is presented in partnership with The Aston Centre for Europe, Aston University, Birmingham, UK; the International Association for the Study of German Politics; and the BMW Center for German and European Studies, Georgetown University.