In a rare display of party unity, the Christian Social Union (CSU) has echoed the warning of Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader Friedrich Merz, advising voters to choose the Free Democratic Party (FDP) at the upcoming federal election. CSU Presidium member Volker Ullrich told the Funke-Mediengruppe newspapers that a vote for the FDP would be “wasted.”
According to Ullrich, the entry of the FDP into the Bundestag would “weaken the political stability and make political decision-making more difficult.” This, he claimed, would be the logical consequence of the FDP’s lack of credibility and the new electoral law of the traffic-light coalition. “If the FDP remains below 5 percent, its votes will be lost. If it barely makes it into the Bundestag, the Union’s winning direct mandates will be struck out” Ullrich said, adding that “only a strong Union guarantees the change.”
CDU leader Merz had previously argued in a newspaper interview that a vote for the FDP at the federal election could ultimately be a wasted vote. “Four percent is four percent too much for the FDP and four percent too little for the Union” he told the Funke newspapers and the French newspaper “Ouest France.”
Voters, Merz and Ullrich seem to suggest, should consider whether their votes for the FDP will ultimately be lost. The FDP currently polls around four percent in several surveys.