Membership: 405,816
Voters: The CDU/CSU are popular with people over the age of 60, churchgoers, and those living in rural rather than urban areas. The CDU has also traditionally done well among small business owners and people with lower or medium education levels.
2019 European election result: 28.9%
2017 Bundestag election result: 33% (246/709 seats)
Armin Laschet (l) and Markus Söder (r) head the CDU and CSU respectively. But chancellor Angela Merkel has been the dominating political figure for the German conservatives
History:The CDU was founded in West Germany in 1950 in the aftermath of World War II as a gathering pool for all of Germany's Christian conservative voters. It became the most dominant political force in the postwar era, unifying Germany and leading the government for 47 of those 67 years, alongside its Bavaria sister-party, the Christian Social Union (CSU).