for much of 2004, there had been speculation that if the opposition christian democratic union were to win this election, they would gain a two-thirds majority in the national upper house, the bundesrat, and force a new election for the bundestag by making the country ungovernable for gerhard schröder's coalition. following the cdu's loss of a majority in saxony, this risk was alleviated; however, north rhine-westphalia had been governed by the spd alone or in coalition since 1966, so a defeat there would be perceived as a grave blow to the spd.