The real losers of the election were the Social Democrats, with a drop in support of 11% that is without precedent in the very stable history of German electoral behavior. Some on the left claim that the SPD’s catastrophic result was the product of too close an engagement with liberalism and deregulation.  According to this view, the party is now paying the price for Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s successful attempts at economic reform in the early 2000’s.  It seems more likely that the party was punished for its lackluster electoral campaign, and for the negativity with which it tried to present the outcome of the election (the center-right coalition) as a threat to social peace in Germany.
Según esa opinión, el partido está pagando ahora el precio por los logrados intentos de reforma económica por parte del canciller Gerhard Schroeder a comienzos del decenio de 2000. Parece más probable que se haya castigado a ese partido por su deslucida campaña electoral y por la negatividad con que ha intentado presentar el resultado de las elecciones (la coalición de centro derecha) como una amenaza para la paz social en Alemania.