The government then lost their majority after several MPs defected to the CDU/CSU opposition due to the government's Ostpolitik foreign policy, especially the recognition of the Oder-Neisse line. Benefitting from Brandt's personal popularity, the government was re-elected with a strengthened majority. 1983 federal election: The government of Chancellor Helmut Schmidt had been ousted in October 1982 after the FDP had switched from being allied with the SPD to being allied with the CDU-CSU union.