History
Franz Josef Strauss (1915–1988) had left behind the strongest legacy as a leader of the party, having led the party from 1961 until his death in 1988. His political career in the federal cabinet was unique in that he had served four ministerial posts in the years between 1953 and 1969. From 1978 until his death in 1988 he served as the minister-president of Bavaria. He was the first leader of the CSU to be a candidate for the German chancellery, in 1980. In the 1980 elections he ran against the incumbent Helmut Schmidt of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), but lost thereafter, as the SPD and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) managed to secure an absolute majority together, forming a Social-liberal coalition.
The CSU has led the Bavarian state government since it came into existence in 1946, save from 1950 to 1953 when the Bavaria Party formed a state government in coalition with the German Branches of the SPD and FDP. The CSU currently governs with the FDP. Before the 2008 elections in Bavaria, the CSU perennially achieved absolute majorities at the state level by itself. This level of dominance is unique among Germany's 16 states. Edmund Stoiber took over the CSU leadership in 1999. He ran for Federal Chancellor in 2002, but his preferred CDU/CSU and FDP coalition lost against the SPD candidate Gerhard Schröder's SPD-Green alliance. In 2003, the CSU was re-elected as the Bavarian government with a majority (60.7% and 124 of 180 seats in the state parliament). On 18 January 2007, Stoiber announced his decision to step down from the posts of Minister-President and CSU chairman by 30 September of that year.
On 28 September 2008, the CSU failed to gain an absolute majority, attaining 43%, of the vote in the Bavaria state election for the first time since 1966 on a percentage basis and was forced into a coalition with the FDP. Even after the 2009 general election, the CDU/CSU emerged as the largest party in Germany, yet both lost votes predominantly to the FDP. The CSU received only 42.5% of the vote in Bavaria in the 2009 election, which constitutes its weakest showing in the party's history. They have three ministers in Berlin: Hans-Peter Friedrich (Federal Ministry of the Interior), Peter Ramsauer (Federal Minister of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs) and Ilse Aigner (Minister of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection).
Read more about this topic: Christian Social Union Of Bavaria
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