2018年，德国政党格局发展的总体特点是，大联合政府的执政党在民调中的支持率持续下滑。这主要体现在秋季巴伐利亚州和黑森州举行的州议会选举上。基社盟、基民盟和社民党选票流失创下纪录。绿党则获得了迄今为止最好成绩，并且在联盟政治中越来越发挥中心角色。德国另类选择党成功进入所有州的州议会，以此巩固了其政治地位。在这两场州议会选举之前，联盟党内部关于移民政策的分歧已威胁到联邦政府的稳定性。面对糟糕的州议会选举结果，默克尔总理宣布放弃竞选基民盟党主席，但留任联邦总理至任期结束。萨尔州前州长克兰普-卡伦鲍尔在12月召开的基民盟党代会上以微弱优势当选基民盟新任党主席，由此德国逐步步入后默克尔时期。
German party politics were in 2018 characterized by a continuing decline of the parties of the grand coalition in the polls and，in autumn，eventually also in the results of the Länder elections in Bavaria and Hesse. Christian Socialist，Christian Democrats and Social Democrats suffered record losses while the Greens won a share of the vote whose size was unprecedented and thus confirmed their increasingly central role as coalition partner. The AfD （Alternative for Germany） consolidated its position by gaining seats in both parliaments；it is now represented in all Länder parliaments. Before these elections，conflicts within the Christian parties （mainly but not exclusively between CSU and CDU） over migration policies had threatened the very survival of the federal government. In reaction to the poor election results in the Länder，Chancellor Merkel announced that she would not stand again for the CDU party leadership but would continue to serve out her term as Chancellor. In December，the CDU party congress by a narrow majority elected Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer，former Prime Minister of the Saarland，as her successor. Thus Germany gradually entered the post-Merkel period.
