The CDU/CSU parties had achieved the third-worst performance in German postwar history with only 35.2 percent of the votes. Therefore, the FDP was unable to form a coalition with its preferred partners, the CDU/CSU parties. As a result, the party was considered as a potential member of two other political coalitions, following the election. One possibility was a partnership between the FDP, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Alliance 90/The Greens, known as a "traffic light coalition", named after the colors of the three parties. This coalition was ruled out, because the FDP considered the Social Democrats and the Greens insufficiently committed to market-oriented economic reform. The other possibility was a CDU-FDP-Green coalition, known as a "Jamaica coalition" because of the colours of the three parties. This coalition wasn't concluded either, since the Greens ruled out participation in any coalition with the CDU/CSU. Instead, the CDU formed a Grand coalition with the SPD, and the FDP entered the opposition. FDP leader Guido Westerwelle became the unofficial leader of the opposition by virtue of the FDP's position as the largest opposition party in the Bundestag.
The CDU/CSU parties had achieved the third-worst performance in German postwar history with only 352 percent of the votes Therefore the FDP was unable to form a coalition with its preferred partners the CDU/CSU parties As a result the party was considered as a potential member of two other political coalitions following the election One possibility was a partnership between the FDP the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Alliance 90/The Greens known as a "traffic light coalition" named after the colors of the three parties This coalition was ruled out because the FDP considered the Social Democrats and the Greens insufficiently committed to market-oriented economic reform The other possibility was a CDU-FDP-Green coalition known as a "Jamaica coalition" because of the colours of the three parties This coalition wasn't concluded either since the Greens ruled out participation in any coalition with the CDU/CSU Instead the CDU formed a Grand coalition with the SPD and the FDP entered the opposition FDP leader Guido Westerwelle became the unofficial leader of the opposition by virtue of the FDP's position as the largest opposition party in the Bundestag