Britannica Sources used in this answer

How did Oskar Lafontaine’s break with the Social Democratic Party of Germany affect the 2005 election?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Oskar Lafontaine’s departure from the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) significantly impacted the 2005 federal election by creating a new political force that complicated coalition building.1

Lafontaine, a former SPD leader, helped form a new party composed of disillusioned former SPD and Green Party members, which then campaigned alongside the eastern-based Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) as the Left Party. This alliance successfully captured nearly 9 percent of the national vote and secured 54 seats in the Bundestag.213

The electoral success of this new bloc prevented both the SPD and the Christian Democratic Union–Christian Social Union (CDU-CSU) alliance from forming a majority government with their preferred coalition partners. Consequently, the SPD was forced to enter into a "grand coalition" with the CDU-CSU, leading to the resignation of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.1