terminology Grand Coalition

The Grand Coalition came into being in 1967 when the both the CDU and the SPD — the two major parties in West Germany — failed to win a majority in the national elections. Unable to form a coalition with one of the smaller parties, the CDU and SPD, supposedly arch-rivals, formed a “Grand Coalition” to create a government with a supermajority comprising over 95% of the Bundestag.

The Grand Coalition was very disillusioning to young left-leaning students who traditionally supported the SPD, and loathed the CDU. People are always decrying the lack of political choice behind the Iron Curtain, the students would note, but what makes us so different if we have one “super-party” that supposedly represents the interests of 95% of our population? The Grand Coalition lasted until 1969.