Germany’s Christian Democratic Union party is considering dropping “Christian” from its name to appeal to a more diverse range of voters.
According to internal analysis by the party, the use of the word “Christian” in the name was potentially alienating to voters and could be scrapped to attract a wider demographic.
CDU – of which both Angela Merkel and Ursula Von Der Leyen are members – had been in power for 16 years before last year’s German election, and is one of the largest parties in Germany.
While originally a Christian conservative party, the CDU has swung to the Left politically in recent years, supporting policies such as mass migration, abortion and same sex marriage.
“If the CDU were to go through with such a move [of removing Christian from their name], for many conservatives it would represent one step further to the left for a party that has become increasingly less conservative and which has even attacked parties, such as Hungary’s Fidesz, that profess to be defenders of the Christian faith in Europe,” ReMix news said of the development.
In Switzerland, the Christian Democratic People’s Party recently rebranded itself as “Die Mitte” – “the Central” party.
Members of other parties in Germany have suggested even dropping the word “Germany” itself from their party literature.
In 2021, a group of German Green Party members voted to remove the word “Germany” from the party’s manifesto title.
“Green politics should be based on human dignity and freedom in a globalised world. And not on Germany,” states a motion supported by the delegates.