Changes

It should be noted that under Merkel's leadership, the party has moved more to the political center in recent years. Voters in Germany haven't approved of this new course: although the CDU managed to emerge as the strongest party in both the 2005 and 2009 elections, winning Merkel the chancellorship, their share of the vote was only 35,2% and 33,8%<ref>http://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/de/bundestagswahlen/ Official results of the 2005 and 2009 federal elections (in German) </ref>, respectively. When running more to the right, as has happened under the leadership of Bavarians Franz Josef Strauss in 1980 or Edmund Stoiber in 2002, the party performed much stronger: in 1980, Strauss almost managed to win an absolute majority; in 2002, Stoiber obtained the best results the CDU has enjoyed in the current five-party-environment. Both candidates only missed the chancellorship because the left-wing social democrats could assemble majority coalitions with smaller centrist parties.

It should be noted that under Merkel's leadership, the party has moved more to the political center in recent years. Voters in Germany haven't approved of this new course: although the CDU managed to emerge as the strongest party in both the 2005 and 2009 elections, winning Merkel the chancellorship, their share of the vote was only 35,2% and 33,8%<ref>http://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/de/bundestagswahlen/ Official results of the 2005 and 2009 federal elections (in German) </ref>, respectively. When running more to the right, as has happened under the leadership of Bavarians Franz Josef Strauss in 1980 or Edmund Stoiber in 2002, the party performed much stronger: in 1980, Strauss almost managed to win an absolute majority; in 2002, Stoiber obtained the best results the CDU has enjoyed in the current five-party-environment. Both candidates only missed the chancellorship because the left-wing social democrats could assemble majority coalitions with smaller centrist parties.

==Party Structure==

==Party Structure==