SPD

After the rise of the Nazi Party to power, the SPD was the only party in the Reichstag which voted against the Enabling Act of 1933; the SPD was subsequently banned, and operated in exile as the Sopade. After the Second World War from 1939 to 1945, the SPD was re-established. In the Soviet occupation zone, it was forced to merge with the KPD to form the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. In West Germany, the SPD became one of two major parties alongside the CDU/CSU. In its Godesberg Program of 1959, the SPD dropped its commitment to Marxism, becoming a big tent party of the centre-left. The SPD led the federal government from 1969 to 1982 (under Willy Brandt and Helmut Schmidt), 1998 to 2005 (under Gerhard Schröder) and again from 2021 to 2025 (under Olaf Scholz). It served as a junior partner to a CDU/CSU-led government from 1966 to 1969, 2005 to 2009, 2013 to 2021 and again since 2025. Since reunification, Alliance 90/The Greens has increasingly competed with the SPD for the centre-left vote.