The Berlin Greens and the FDP continued their long-standing membership growth in the first half of 2022, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. At the end of June (as of June 29) the Greens had 12,656 members, one percent more than at the end of December. The FDP grew by 5.6 percent to 4,287 party members (as of June 28). This was the result of a survey by the German Press Agency.
The Greens were thus able to consolidate their recently won second place in the number of party members in Berlin. Because the CDU, which was once ahead of the Greens, continued to decline. As of the end of May – according to a spokesman, June figures are not yet available – it had 12,045 members, 2.4 percent fewer than at the end of 2021.
The party with the most members in Berlin remains the SPD, which is head of government with Franziska Giffey. The state office announced in the same way as at the end of 2021 that the party had “stable around 19,500 members”. More precise figures were not given.
After temporary growth in the super election year 2021, the left had to accept bloodletting again. Their number of members shrank by five percent to 7573 in the first half of 2022. The negative trend in the AfD continued with a minus of 8.1 percent to 1090 members (as of June 26).
If you add up the membership figures and compare them with the number of eligible voters in the capital of 2.448 million, then around 2.3 percent of them are members of one of the parties represented in the House of Representatives.
The state offices of the Greens and FDP rated the positive development as confirmation of the work of both parties. SPD state manager Sven Heinemann explained: “If you want to change something, then you have to get politically involved – especially at a time when we have to stand up for our values, democracy and freedom every day. And the SPD Berlin offers its members a wide range of opportunities to do this.”
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Left Vice Pascal Meiser attributed the decline in membership in his party to internal problems. “Of course, the disputes in our federal party have also left their mark on us in Berlin, and unfortunately we also lost members as a result.” The demographic composition is also noticeable. “Unfortunately, some of the losses can also be attributed to a not inconsiderable number of deaths.”
CDU General Secretary Stefan Evers spoke of the “usual file clean-ups at the beginning of the year” and “special effects at nomination times” in view of the minus in his party. Joining numbers are now on the rise again. AfD Vice Ronald Glaeser sees “disappointed expectations” and an active cleaning up of non-payers in the file as the main reasons for the decline in membership. “However, there are also some promising new recordings.” (dpa)
