The party's rise is closely linked to its founder, the politician and environmentalist Herbert Gruhl.

Gruhl had a more conservative consistent life ethic ("Lebensschutzkonzeption"), which addresses besides environmentalism also the rejection of abortion, euthanasia and the death penalty.

[19] Though a minor party – it has not gained seats in a state parliament or in the Bundestag – the ÖDP became notable for its involvement in the opposition to a Czech nuclear reactor in Temelín, across the border from Bavaria.

It led an initiative for a popular referendum to abolish the Bavarian Senate (that state's upper house) which was successful.

[38] Klaus Buchner was re-elected to the European Parliament, however he was replaced in July 2020 with Manuela Ripa.

[9] The party repositioned itself following the electoral collapse and loss of many members in early 2000s - the party lost two-thirds of its electorate in the 2002 German federal election, and did not participate in the 2005 German federal election at all.

[10] From 2005 onwards, the party is considered centre-left by German political scientists such as Heinz-Siegfried Strelow.

The ÖDP is influenced by Catholicism in many of its programmatic stances - it strongly opposes restricting the right to asylum, harsher criminal punishment, and abortion.

Additionally, the ÖDP strongly support an extension of the German welfare state and a complete nuclear phase-out.

[13] According to Uwe Kranenpohl, the ÖDP's opposition to abortion is even stronger than in CDU/CSU; Kranenpohl writes: The attitudes towards the abortion issue are particularly noteworthy: unsurprisingly, the differences between the members of the ÖDP and the Greens are greatest here - the former reject liberalisation to the same extent as the latter support it - but a third of CDU and CSU members are also in favour of less strict regulation of this issue, which also reveals clear differences with the ÖDP.

[...] In terms of their denominational structure and church affiliation, the ÖDP is similar to the members of the CDU/CSU party, but draw different conclusions from their Christian orientation and consistently and to a large extent consensually represent the concept of comprehensive protection of life: these core points of the party programme therefore reflect the political convictions of the members very well and are able to act as a bracket for the ‘Christian Greens’.

[4] Following the Catholic social teaching, a central principle of the party's program is "respect for life", which is considered "sacred in all its forms".

[6] It focuses on sustainable economics, and calls for Germany to have 100% of its energy from renewable sources, a comprehensive "mobility transition" that would reduce car traffic by at least 50%, a publicly-owned national water supply, and an introduction of universal basic income for parents to cover the material costs of children.

[44] On 17 December 2014, a single member of the Memmingen/Unterallgäu chapter of the ÖDP said at a meeting, that the proposed gender mainstreaming law was a "state license to corrupt children" and would give LGBT individuals "too much influence over a passive majority", and that LGBT individuals should not be allowed to marry.

[46] The following table shows the results of the most recent state elections the party contested: