Page "Free Democratic Party (Germany)" Paragraph 6

In the 2005 general election the party won 9. 8 percent of the vote and 61 federal deputies, an unpredicted improvement from prior opinion polls.

It is believed that this was partly due to tactical voting by CDU and Christian Social Union of Bavaria ( CSU ) alliance supporters who hoped for stronger market-oriented economic reforms than the CDU / CSU alliance called for.

However, because the CDU did worse than predicted, the FDP and the CDU / CSU alliance were unable to form a coalition government.

At other times, for example after the 2002 federal election, a coalition between the FDP and CDU / CSU was impossible primarily because of the weak results of the FDP.