The German parliament's lobby room was reorganised for the election.
A centre heated up by spotlights and speculations,
where forecasts abound,
opinion pollsters feel anxious and the voters' opinions are revealed.
The SPD had expected to gain more votes.
But the real loser was the FDP.
Undoubtedly one of the reasons was the fact that the two parties
in the government coalition
ran against each other with unprecedented ferocity.
Because of the polarization among the voters,
FDP voters were pushed in one direction or another,
and we were not able to keep them
in the election decision.
"Who is in coalition with whom?" was the night's crucial question.
As party leader, I would like to say
that this is the best result
we've had so far.
The distance between CDU-CSU and the SPD
has been well halved from over 8% to 4%.
I don't know
why there's this discussion about the grand coalition.
It is not the solution for the moment.
The CDU-CSU, the strongest party despite its loss of votes,
also kept its options open.
I always... I never made a secret out of it
that I am convinced
that continuing with the grand coalition under all circumstances
should be tied up with a clear agreement
on voting rights.
Just now,
I got a phone call from President Nixon,
in which he congratulated us
on the election results.
You can't expect me
to now triumphantly say that the slogan
"It all comes down to the Chancellor"
was decisive.
I think in some way I contributed to this...
The young union even used Germany's national anthem
to celebrate Kurt Georg Kiesinger.
But only the coalition talks will reveal
the reputation of the Chancellor.
It all comes down to him.
It all comes down to the Chancellor It all comes down to the Chancellor