German party politics was throughout 2020 almost entirely dominated by the Corona pandemic. Only during the first two months，politicians focused on party politics as usual，even though the fallout of the parliamentary election in the Land Thuringia was clearly unusual. After an inconclusive election result，the Free Democratic Party（FDP）politician Thomas Kemmerich was elected Prime Minister with the votes of the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany（AfD）. This led to a massive scandal，resulting not only in Kemmerich’s speedy resignation but also in the withdrawal of CDU leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. Soon after，the pandemic hit Germany，and the rest of the year was mainly dominated by debates about how to deal with this challenge. As often in crises，the government could benefit handsomely and gained public support，which，however，exclusively benefitted the leading coalition parties CDU and CSU，while the SPD in polls remained stuck at around 15 per cent. On the eve of the 2021 Bundestag election it looks very likely that the next German government will be led by a Christian Democrat，most probably jointly with a Green Vice-Chancellor.