"So, do we actually have a government or not?" was the confused reaction of many Germans on Sunday night as the election results were announced. The ruling SPD-Green Party coalition, under Gerhard Schröder, has been voted out. But the opposition CDU/CSU parties, under Angela Merkel, did not get enough of a majority to actually be voted in. And to make matters even more baffling for voters, all parties were declaring victory on Sunday night. Such pronouncements rang hollow from Merkel in view of her slender lead and the disappointed look on her face.

Certainly Schröder, who was giddy with euphoria, can allow himself a pat on the back: his surprise success of 34.2 percent was just 0.8 percent less than the opposition's 35 percent and thereby prevented Merkel from her predicted outright victory. This, of course, means that some pretty frantic, behind-the-doors dealing will now have to be made between the parties if any workable coalition government is to be formed. The business-friendly Free Democratic Party doesn't want to work the Social Democratic SPD. The SDP doesn't want to govern with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). And no one wants to have anything to do with the radical Left Party. So who will join up with whom? Or will everyone just jump into bed together and try and form a grand coalition between all the major parties? The German press have no great solutions, but they take a good shot at trying to unravel the muddle.

The right-leaning daily Die Welt comments that "just as the early elections took the country by surprise, so did the results." The paper explains that Germany has decided on its future. It had a choice between two opposing directions and it has ended up going for a third, a path which could lead the nation anywhere. "The only thing that is clear right now is that the Social Democratic-Green Party coalition has come to an end. The most likely result is now a grand coalition ... unbelievable as it may seem, it can't even be ruled out that Schröder will find himself re-elected as chancellor." Given the paper's political leanings, it unsurprisingly interprets the FDP party's positive results as confirmation that the electorate wants economic reform. "Whatever the next coalition looks like, the reality of the situation will become even more apparent than it has been over the last three years. The budget deficit, economic stagnation and the scandal of mass unemployment act both as a political mandate and as legitimization for whoever ends up ruling."

Writing on Spiegel Online, columnist Claus Christian Malzahn, sees both the SPD and the CDU/CSU as the big losers in this election. He notes that the Social Democrats have delivered one of their worst results in history and describes Schröder's attempt to cling to power as "downright grotesque." The astonishing thing, he adds, "is that the chancellor has almost succeeded in doing so." Then Malzahn sharpens his knife before carving up Angela Merkel like a political turkey dinner. He makes his point quickly: "Merkel was the wrong candidate." She was unable to convince voters that she could really lead the country because she was inexperienced as a politician. Nor did voters care about the years she spent as environmental minister under former Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Merkel did little to help the unfavorable image many voters have of her. "As she went about her political business yesterday, Merkel still at times seemed like an intern."

The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung on the other hand, cheers what it sees as the defeat of the CDU/CSU opposition. "Angela Merkel has suffered a bitter defeat... she could still become chancellor. But it would be under very different conditions than what she would have wished for. Come what may, she will not have 'total power.'" A CDU/CSU/FDP coalition is out of the question. But how about a CDU/CSU/FDP coalition which bands together with the Green Party? How power will be divided is anybody's guess, the paper writes. "But whatever comes out of all this, power will not be in the chancellor's hands. Power in the upper house and the parliament will be stronger than ever. Whether the next chancellor is Schröder, Merkel or a surprise candidate, in the future more account will have to be taken of allies and enemies." The paper concludes by saying that Merkel's poor results are proof that Germany does not want a neo-liberal Anglo-Saxon style economic system.

Like other papers the Financial Times Deutschland also says that Sunday's elections will be remembered as the most surprising in the nation's history -- as will the ensuing results. "The winner of the evening, Angela Merkel, is also the loser," the paper writes. "The head of the CDU has not managed to win over a majority of the German electorate for her plan to achieve 'more market economy and less state.'" The paper clearly believes that this is due to mistakes in her campaign. Despite the fact that for months the CDU/CSU opposition seemed unbeatable in the polls, Merkel's results, which are worse than those of her coalition partner Edmund Stoiber in 2002, will eventually lead to an end to her political career. Paradoxically, however, the paper also believes that Merkel will more than likely still become Germany's first female chancellor, due to the fact that the FDP is unlikely to want to govern with a SPD-Green Party coalition. The more likely outcome, the paper believes, is a grand coalition. "This will hardly prove beneficial for Germany's future ... political momentum will grind to a halt and extremist parties will gain in importance." The only real winner, the paper concludes, is Schröder -- despite the fact that he is unlikely to remain chancellor. "He has won a place for himself in the history books, with his courageous reforms. He has led the SPD through their hardest test yet and in the eyes of the party has achieved hero status by getting such a good election result."

The Süddeutsche Zeitung also believes that Schröder has, rather perversely come out of this election better than Merkel, despite the fact that he has more than likely lost his job as chancellor. "Never before has an election loser, and SPD-Green have indeed lost, been so congratulated by his party," writes the commentator, referring to Schröder. As for Angela Merkel: "it has seldom happened for someone to, in theory, win an election and stand there so disgraced ... the result is a catastrophe for CDU/CSU; all the more so, because it has come so unexpectedly." The paper does not believe that the result is entirely Merkel's fault. The main problem, the paper writes, was the discussions over a grand coalition in the days before the election. As a result, many CDU/CSU voters ended up selecting the FDP, because they assumed that Merkel would win anyway. As for Schröder, "he was won new respect with his grandiose finale." But, the paper dryly remarks, "democracy does not function like a Hollywood awards ceremony. There are no prizes on election night for the best actor, the most exciting script and the most audacious stunts." These elections have shown how much Germany's political landscape has changed. "The big parties are no longer as big as they used to be, and the small parties not as small." Everything is now possible and nothing can be ruled out. The main question for the paper is whether the new government, whatever it looks like, will show itself capable of solving what Schröder's government failed to do and reduce the country's massive unemployment.