German federal election, 2005

German federal elections took place on September 18, 2005 to elect the members of the 16th German Bundestag, the federal parliament of Germany. They became necessary after an unsuccessful motion of confidence in Chancellor Gerhard Schröder on July 1. Schröder asked his supporters to abstain on that motion in order to lose it and trigger an early federal election following defeat of his Social Democratic Party (SPD) in a state election.

Related Topics:
September 18 - 2005 - Bundestag - Germany - Motion of confidence - Chancellor - Gerhard Schröder - July 1 - Social Democratic Party

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The opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its sister party in Bavaria, the Christian Social Union (CSU), started the federal election campaign with a 21% lead over the SPD in opinion polls. Many commentators expected the Christian Democrats to win a clear electoral victory and that CDU leader Angela Merkel would become Chancellor, forming a government with Free Democratic Party (FDP) and displacing the governing coalition of the SPD and the Alliance '90/The Greens. However, the CDU/CSU significantly lost momentum during the campaign and won less than 1% more votes than the SPD.

Related Topics:
Christian Democratic Union - Bavaria - Christian Social Union - Angela Merkel - Free Democratic Party - Alliance '90/The Greens

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As soon as exit polls were in it was clear that neither coalition group had won a majority of seats in the Bundestag. The CDU/CSU emerged as the largest party but with only four more seats than the SPD. Both parties lost seats compared to 2002, as did the Greens, whilst only the The Left Party (a partial successor of the Party of Democratic Socialism led by Gregor Gysi and former SPD chairman Oskar Lafontaine) made significant gains. Both Schröder and Merkel claimed victory but the formation of a new government will depend on the outcome of negotiations among all parties over the coming days

Related Topics:
2002 - Left Party - Party of Democratic Socialism - Gregor Gysi - Oskar Lafontaine

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