The Animal Protection Party first contested the
1993 Hamburg state election and received 0.3% of the vote. The party contested the
1994 federal election where it received 0.15% of the national vote (71,643 votes in total). It performed best in Bavaria, where it received 0.4% of the vote. In the
1995 North Rhine-Westphalia state election, the party received 0.1% of the vote. In the
1996 Baden-Württemberg state election, the party received 0.3% of the vote. In 1997, the party elected its first ever official, with Jürgen Gerlach defeating a
CDU candidate in the
Aschbach local council elections. The Animal Protection Party participated in its first
European parliament elections in 1999, where it received 0.7% of the national vote. In the
2002 federal election, the party received 0.33% of the national vote (159,655 votes in total). In the
2004 European parliament elections, the Animal Protection Party received by far its best federal result yet, receiving 1.3% of the national vote and coming 8th in the elections. In the
2005 federal election, the Animal Protection Party received 0.2% of the national vote (110,603 votes in total), showing its trend of consistently overperforming in European parliament elections and underperforming in federal elections. In the
2009 European parliament elections, the Animal Protection Party received 1.1% of the national vote (289,694 votes in total). The party continued to receive 0 seats. In the
2009 federal election, the Animal Protection Party received 0.5% of the national vote (230,872 votes in total). In the
2013 federal election, the Animal Protection Party received 0.3% of the national vote (140,366 votes in total). In the
2014 European parliament elections, the Animal Protection Party received 1.25% of the national vote (366,303 votes in total) and returned one
MEP,
Stefan Eck, who sat with the
GUE-NGL. In December 2014 Eck left the party and became an independent MEP in the GUE-NGL group. In the
2017 federal election, the Animal Protection Party received 0.8% of the national vote (374,179 votes in total). In the
2019 European parliament elections, the Animal Protection Party received 1.45% of the national vote (541,984 votes in total) and returned one MEP,
Martin Buschmann. Buschmann resigned from the party in February 2020 after it was revealed that from 1992 to 1996 he was a member of and a chairman in the far-right
National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD). In the
2021 federal election, the Animal Protection Party received 1.5% of the national vote (675,353 votes in total), which is the best result in a federal election since the party has been founded. The party took an anti-war position towards the 2022
Russian invasion of Ukraine, arguing that neither NATO or EU should "develop into a military global player", and condemning the militaristic and anti-Russian rhetoric. The party condemns the Russian invasion, but states that the European Union also bears responsibility for it. It supports a complete ban on arms exports to areas outside the EU, and argues that the EU should be forbidden from direct or indirect participation in foreign military actions, listing the wars in Middle East, Turkish conflict with Syrian and Iraqi Kurdish areas, as well as "the heated up conflict in Kosovo and also to the war in Ukraine" as examples. The Animal Protection Party also calls for dialogue with Russia and China, and believes that the Russian invasion should not lead to breakdown of diplomatic relations.
Sebastian Everding was elected for the party in the
2024 European Parliament election in Germany. The party holds 37 seats in municipality and county assemblies and one seat in the Bezirkstag Oberbayern. In 2024, a cooperation with the
Klimaliste party was started, which resulted in plans for a fusion of both parties. As one step towards that, the party changed their long name from "Partei Mensch Umwelt Tierschutz" to "Partei Mensch Klima Tierschutz" in February 2026. The fusion is planned to be finalized in summer 2026. == Ideology, platform and policy ==