Alliance 90/The Greens and the 2021 Federal Election: A Disappointing Success Story

Abstract

Despite achieving a record 14.8 per cent of vote share at a federal election, the reception of Alliance 90/The Greens’ election result was one of considerable disappointment. Largely due to personal gaffes that questioned the integrity of the first-ever Green Chancellor Candidate Annalena Baerbock, the party yet again failed to translate opinion poll highs to the ballot box. In spite of this disappointing result, the Greens became kingmakers alongside the FDP in coalition negotiations and finally returned to government after 16 years in federal opposition. This chapter argues that the 2021 elections were indeed a success for the Greens in their aim to become the leading force of the left-centre. Firstly, this election campaign successfully implemented the Green rebrand designed by Baerbock and Robert Habeck. Secondly, the Greens used their position as kingmakers to create a progressive coalition, which had a distinctively Green flavour. Finally, if the party can learn from the avoidable mistakes of the 2021 election and Green ministers continue to deliver and be positively received by the public, the next election could see the Greens achieve their goal of becoming the leading force of the left-centre.

Thank you to Samuel Dent for reading through a draft of this article. This chapter has drawn on research completed during my PhD, which was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (grant number AH/L503848/1) through the White Rose College of the Arts & Humanities (WRoCAH).