 The largest two parties both lost ground in the 2005 election, and in the end a "grand coalition" was formed between the two of them, leaving the business of opposition to the less mainstream PDS, The Greens and the FDP.Within the governing CDU/CSU/SPD coalition government, now led by Angela Merkel, Schanitz again received a job, this time as Parliamentary Secretary of State for Health, working with the Health Minister Ulla Schmidt (SPD).The principal losers in the 2009 election were the SPD.