Results of 2005 German federal election

Sunday, September 18, 2005 

This article is part of the series

German federal elections 2005

Complete Coverage

Prelude

• Schröder loses motion of confidence
• German president dissolves parliament; elections in September
• German Constitutional Court green-lights early elections call
• TV debate between German chancellor Schröder and opposition leader Merkel held
• Death of candidate will delay final results for German federal election by weeks
• One week before German federal election, the race is wide-open again

Election Day

• Results

Aftermath

• German Christian Democrats win by-election in Dresden
• Schröder gives up German chancellorship ambitions, makes way for Merkel
• German Social and Christian Democrats agree on new government
• Angela Merkel elected new German chancellor

Background

• Politics of Germany
• German federal election, 2005

Red-Green alliance loses majority, yet future government uncertain

Preliminary Result
Party	%	Seats	Change
CDU/CSU	35.2	226	-3.3%
SPD	34.2	222	-4.2%
FDP	9.8	61	+2.4%
The Left	8.7	54	+4.7%
Greens	8.1	50	-0.5%
Source: Bundeswahlleiter

The alliance consisting of chancellor Gerhard Schröder's Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens has lost its majority. And while Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) got the most votes it performed much worse than projected and the SPD is only three seats behind thanks to several overhang seats. But that could change slightly, when the outstanding by-election in Dresden is over. So who will govern the country for the next four years is completely uncertain. Both Schröder and Merkel reaffirmed their ambitions for the office of chancellor. But neither the CDU and the Free Democrats (FDP) nor SPD and the Greens have a majority of seats in the Bundestag. A grand coalition between the CDU and the SPD now seems to be the likely option for a future government. But also a SPD-Greens-FDP or a CDU-Greens-FDP coalition seems possible. However FDP chair Guido Westerwelle said this party would not be available for a coalition with the SPD. The Left also doesn't want to form a coalition with any of the parties in Bundestag. They, along with the Free Democrats, are the only real winners of this election. After The Left only had 2 MPs in the last Bundestag, they are now stronger than ever before, getting 54 seats. The Free Democrats also scored one of their best results in their history, gaining 3% and getting 61 seats, which makes them the third biggest party in the Bundestag.

CDU/CSU

• Angela Merkel, CDU chair: "The campaign is over. We have the mandate to form the government. [...] We will talk with all parties except The Left."
• Edmund Stoiber, CSU chair: "CDU/CSU is biggest fraction in the German Bundestag. [That means that] Mrs. Merkel has got the mandate for governance [...]. CSU [...] will do everything to succeed and to form a stable government [...]."
• The governor of North Rhine-Westphalia, Jürgen Rüttgers (CDU): "Frankly, I'm disappointed by the result. [...] But whats important is that the red-green alliance has lost its majority."
• Markus Söder, CSU: "It's certain. Red-Green is history. Gerhard Schröder is history. [...] The Germans want a political change."
  

Gerhard Schröder

SPD

• Chancellor Gerhard Schröder: "We have achieved something that many journalists have thought to be impossible. I'm proud of the people in our country. [...] Those who wanted a change in the office of chancellor have failed miserably. I feel responsible to ensure that this country will have a stable government under my leadership. If Merkel wants to form a government with the FDP and the Greens I can't stop her. But she won't form a government with my SPD under her leadership."
• Franz Müntefering, SPD chair: "The result of the CDU is a personal defeat for Mrs. Merkel. [...] The people have confidence in Gerhard Schröder, not Merkel. [...] This result is a huge success for the German Social Democrats."
• Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit, SPD: "The people have said: 'Angela Merkel does not have our trust'. The voters actually wanted Gerhard Schröder as chancellor."
  

FDP

• Guido Westerwelle, FDP chair: "We are the winners of this day. [...] Now its about a good policy for our country.
• Jörg van Essen, FDP: "Our program was crystal clear. That's why the people voted for us."

Joschka Fischer

Greens

• Joschka Fischer, Greens: "We have to admit that red-green does not have a majority. But we can also see that Merkel's policy of social coldness also does not have a majority."
• Katrin Göring-Eckardt, Greens: "The result confirmed our campaign for a safe environment. [...] We are ready for opposition."
  

The Left

• Lothar Bisky, The Left chair: "We will establish a strong opposition against a policy that discriminates the underprivileged."
• Gregor Gysi, The Left: "There is a majority left of the CDU. [...]The people want more social justice, higher wages."

Background

About 61,9 million citizens were eligible to participate in this early election to the 16th German Bundestag. It became necessary because chancellor Schröder deliberately lost a motion of confidence on July 1st. 3648 candidates are competing for the 598 seats (more in case of overhang seats) in the Bundestag. The voters in the constituency of Dresden I are not participating in today's election, the death of a candidate there forced a delayed by-election for the 2nd of October.
The all dominating topics of the election campaign were unemployment and the state of the German economy. Other hot issues include a taxation reform and changes to the health insurance system. The race was wide open till the end. Contrary to tradition, all parties concluded their campaigns on Saturday rather than Friday.

Coalitions

All parties say the possible coalitions exclude the Left, who might support the minority government of SPD-Greens. The Grand coalition (CDU/SPD) is possible only with Schroeder in power according to Schroeder, and only with Merkel in power according to Merkel.

The traffic light coalition (SPD-Green-FDP) is excluded by FDP. CDU is likely to try to lure the Greens into coalition, the only option that was not excluded. Also possible are the minority governments. It is still not clear who will be the new leader, and both CDU and SPD claim the right to appoint new chancellor. Although the leftists won, it is possible that conservatives will form government if Greens are willing.

Preliminary Results

Participation: 77.7%

Official Party name	Translation	%	Constituencies won	Total seats
Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands - SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany	34.2	145	222
Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands - CDU	Christian Democratic Union of Germany	27.8	106	180
Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayern e.V. - CSU	Christian Social Union in Bavaria	7.4	44	46
BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN - GRÜNE	Alliance 90/The Greens	8.1	1	51
Freie Demokratische Partei - FDP	Free Democratic Party	9.8	0	61
Die Linkspartei.PDS - Die Linke.	The Party of the Left,PDS	8.7	3	54
Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands - NPD	National Democratic Party of Germany	1.6	0	0
50 Plus Bürger- und Wählerinitiative für Brandenburg - 50 Plus	50 Plus-Citizens- and Votersinitiative for Brandenburg	0.0	0	0
Ab jetzt Bündnis für Deutschland - Deutschland	From now on...Alliance for Germany	0.0	0	0
Allianz für Gesundheit, Frieden und soziale Gerechtigkeit AGFG	Alliance for health, peace and social justice	0.0	0	0
Anarchistische Pogo-Partei Deutschlands - APPD	Anarchist Pogo Party of Germany	0.0	0	0
Bayernpartei - BP	Bavaria Party	0.1	0	0
Bürgerrechtsbewegung Solidarität - BüSo	Civil-rights movement Solidarity	0.1	0	0
DIE GRAUEN - Graue Panther - GRAUE	The Greys - Grey Panthers	0.4	0	0
DIE REPUBLIKANER - REP	The Republicans	0.6	0	0
Deutsche Zentrumspartei - Älteste Partei Deutschlands gegründet 1870 - ZENTRUM	German Centre Party - Oldest party Germany's founded in 1870	0.0	0	0
FAMILIEN-PARTEI DEUTSCHLANDS - FAMILIE	Family Party of Germany	0.4	0	0
Feministische Partei DIE FRAUEN - DIE FRAUEN	Feminist Party - The women	0.1	0	0
Marxistisch-Leninistische Partei Deutschlands - MLPD	Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany	0.1	0	0
Mensch Umwelt Tierschutz - Die Tierschutzpartei	Human, environment, animal welfare	0.2	0	0
Partei Bibeltreuer Christen - PBC	Party of Christians faithful to the bible	0.2	0	0
Partei für Arbeit, Rechtsstaat, Tierschutz, Elitenförderung und basisdemokratische Initiative - Die PARTEI	Party for labor, constitutional state, animal protection, advancement of the elite and grassroot democracy initiative	0.0	0	0
Partei Rechtsstaatlicher Offensive - Offensive D	Party for a constitutional state offensive	0.0	0	0
Partei für Soziale Gleichheit, Sektion der Vierten Internationale - PSG	Party for Social Equality, section of the Fourth International	0.0	0	0
Pro Deutsche Mitte - Initiative Pro D-Mark (Pro DM)	Pro German centre - Initiative Pro German mark	0.0	0	0

External links

• Germany's electoral system
• The German Federal Returning Officer

Sources

• "Germany votes in close election" — BBC News, September 18, 2005

• "Hung parliament looms in Germany" — BBC News, September 18, 2005

• "Schroeder rejects Merkel mandate" — CNN, September 18, 2005

• "Patt zwischen Union und SPD möglich" — ARD, September 18, 2005

• "Vorläufiges Ergebnis der Bundestagswahl" — AP, September 18, 2005
  

The text of this article has been released into the public domain. In the event that this is not legally possible, this article may be used for any purpose, without any condition, unless such conditions are required by law. This applies worldwide. Copyright terms on images, however, may vary, so please check individual image pages prior to duplication. Please note that this only applies to Wikinews content created prior to September 25, 2005. All content created after that date is released under a Creative Commons license which is mentioned at the bottom of each article. This is currently the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.