Postwar Germany experienced an unprecedented political turmoil in 2005 resulting from an early and inconclusive national election.
Ultimately the turmoil ended up with historic results: the first female chancellor in Germany's history, Angela Merkel, and a so-called grand coalition government between two traditional rivals, which was last time seen in the late 1960s.
But both Merkel and the coalition, formed by her alliance of the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) and former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democratic Party (SPD), came along a hard and hurdle-dotted long way before being put in place.
SCHROEDER ANNOUNCES EARLY ELECTION
The drama was kicked off as Schroeder surprisingly called for the general election to be advanced a year earlier to this autumn, shortly after his SPD party was defeated in its 39-year-old stronghold North Rhine-Westphalia state in May.
Schroeder was widely regarded gambling as pollsters believed early elections could well put an end to his seven-year chancellorship.
His SPD-Greens camp was marginally overtaken by Merkel's CDU/ CSU-Free Democratic Party (FDP), polls showed.
But Schroeder, fighting a weak economy and a high jobless rate of 11 percent, insisted on an early poll.
He mobilized the SPD and coalition Green party members to abstain from voting so as to achieve a no-confidence vote on his government on July 1.
He made it in justifying the need for the early election to President Horst Koehler, who reluctantly agreed to dissolve the parliament and announce an early election 21 days later.
"If we are to continue with this (reform) agenda, legitimation through new elections is needed," he told the Bundestag, or parliament. Left-wingers in his party had been opposed to his economic reforms.
Schroeder also crossed the legal hurdle as the Constitutional Court ruled positively on his move to lobby for his own no-confidence vote.
INCONCLUSIVE ELECTION CAUSES CRISIS
The general election on Sept. 18 produced no winner as neither Schroeder's camp nor Merkel's won clear majority. But both Schroeder and Merkel claimed victory and vowed to form a new government with a junior party. Germany was plunged into weeks of political standoff.
Merkel's CDU/CSU secured 35.2 percent of the vote and 225 seats in parliament, compared to 34.3 percent and 222 seats for the SPD.
The seat number rose to 226 for the CDU/CSU after the election was held on Oct. 2 in the Dresden district, where polls were delayed because of the death of a candidate.
After the result was unveiled, Merkel asserted that the red and green alliance was voted out, and the CDU/CSU was the strongest force in parliament and had a "very clear mandate to govern."
To her surprise, Schroeder announced afterwards:" I regard myself as confirmed in office by our country and intend that there will be stable government under my leadership."
The result was somewhat disappointing to Merkel as two days before the election, her alliance was projected to be able to win 41 to 43 percent of votes by a poll, while the SPD was forecast to win 32 to 34 percent.
MERKEL STRUGGLES ALONG TO CHANCELLORY
The bickering over the chancellorship lasted nearly three weeks, putting Merkel on a bumpy road to the chancellory.
The issue stood as a stumbling block even after the two parties engaged in exploratory talks for a grand coalition. The two biggest parties sought a marriage after their efforts to form a government with smaller parties failed.
For a time, Schroeder suggested that he would withdraw the claim to chancellorship if Merkel followed suit, or they would share the top position on rotation. But the conservative rejected the idea without further ado.
As pressure mounted and the SPD lost the Dresden vote, Schroeder signaled on Oct. 3 retreat, saying he would not stand in the way of a stable government.
But a day later, then SPD chairman Franz Muenterfering reiterated that the SPD sought to lead the new government and Schroeder to stay on for "our program."
He demanded the chancellor issue be settled only through formal coalition talks, while the CDU insisted that the SPD accept Merkel as chancellor, or there would be no formal talks.
After weeks of intense tug of war and six face-to-face meetings, they clinched a deal on Oct. 9, allowing Merkel to be chancellor in a coalition government with the SPD as a junior partner.
However, the CDU alliance paid a high price for the position. Almost all major ministerial posts, including vice chancellor, foreign, finance, labor, justice and health, would be taken by the SPD.
COALITION DEAL IS HARD-FORGED
After the chancellor issue was settled, the CDU/CSU and SPD launched formal negotiations for a coalition government.
As traditional rivals, they had wide gaps on nearly all issues ranging from tax policy to health care system and nuclear plants.
In their exploratory talks, they had found the basis for a coalition, agreeing that "there is no alternative to a reform course" for Germany.
They had edged closer on key issues such as reforming the labor market and social welfare system, and slashing public finances.
But when it came to concrete issues such as labor market policy and budget difficulties, they found it so hard to hammer out a government program for the years to come.
Differences over the reform of the health insurance system were so wide that it had to be left out of the coalition agreement's agenda.
Major gaps, such as tax hikes and spending cuts, remained even when they put the final touches on a deal in mid-October.
Value-added tax, tax on the rich, protection against dismissal and phasing out nuclear power were all stamped "unresolved" in the accord.
But they managed to strike, through lengthy and unremitting talks, a near 200-page compromise in mid-November, just days before the scheduled time for the parties' congresses to approve the deal.
Apart from the struggle for chancellorship and hard horse-trading in forging a deal, the two months from Sept. 18 to Nov. 18 when the coalition deal was passed by party congresses also witnessed turbulent inner party struggles.
Then SPD chairman Muentefering, who led with Schroeder in the coalition talks for his party, suddenly announced on Oct. 31 resignation as party chief.
He decided to step down after his hand-picked candidate failed to be elected as secretary-general by the SPD executive committee, which defied him and elected leading party leftist Andrea Nahles.
Taking this as an excuse, CSU leader Edmund Stoiber announced his withdrawal from the new government as economics minister. He thought Muentefering's departure shook the foundation for a coalition.
Luckily, Muentefering continued heading the SPD delegation throughout the talks, and later joined the new government as vice chancellor and labor minister.
On Nov. 22, the Bundestag elected Merkel as the first woman chancellor in Germany's history and the first to have grown up in former German Democratic Republic.
The parliament also installed the coalition government on the day, capping months of political crisis in Europe's biggest country.