For most of the second half of the 20th century, particularly from to , the FDP held the balance of power in the Bundestag. In the federal election , the FDP failed to win any directly elected seats in the Bundestag and came up short of the 5 percent threshold to qualify for list representation, being left without representation in the Bundestag for the first time in its history.
From the federal election to the German government crisis , the FDP was part of governing Scholz cabinet in a traffic light coalition with the Social Democratic Party and the Greens. Apart from a brief progressive and social liberal period in the s Freiburger Thesen , the FDP has traditionally been located in the centre-right of the political spectrum. The history of liberal parties in Germany dates back to , when the German Progress Party DFP was founded, being the first political party in the modern sense in Germany.
From the establishment of the National Liberal Party in until the demise of the Weimar Republic in , the liberal-democratic camp was divided into a " national-liberal " and a "left-liberal" line of tradition. Both parties played an important role in government during the Weimar Republic era, but successively lost votes during the rise of the Nazi Party beginning in the lates.
After the Nazi seizure of power , both liberal parties agreed to the Enabling Act of and subsequently dissolved themselves. During the 12 years of Hitler's rule, some former liberals collaborated with the Nazis e. Many former members of DDP and DVP however agreed to finally overcome the traditional split of German liberalism into a national-liberal and a left-liberal branch, aiming for the creation of a united liberal party.
The LDP was especially strong in the October state elections of the Soviet zoneβthe last free parliamentary election in East Germanyβobtaining an average of This disappointment to the communists however led to a change of electoral laws in the Soviet zone, cutting the autonomy of non-socialist parties including the LDP and forcing it to join the SED-dominated National Front , making it a dependent " bloc party ".
