The stalemate that has emerged from the German election will have the effect of slowing up economic reform and this is seen by most commentators as an utter disaster. It isn't a disaster, at least not unless you think democracy is a disaster, writes Larry Elliott.
What the inconclusive vote has shown is that the German people lack enthusiasm - to put it mildly - for the policies that have been pursued by Gerhard Schröder and would be pursued with even more vigour by Angela Merkel. The strong showing by Oskar Lafontaine's Left party is indicative of the deep suspicion German voters have of what to them smacks of a wholesale introduction of the neo-liberal US economic model.
Put simply, Germans don't buy the idea - touted by both Mr Schröder and Ms Merkel - that the way to safeguard Germany's post-war social democratic model is to dismantle it.
The scepticism is justified. Germany is the second biggest exporter in the world and runs a healthy trade surplus. Its strong manufacturing industry and well-trained workforce suggests that the supply side of the economy is in reasonable shape. But the economy has suffered from two serious macro-economic mistakes in the past 15 years - the one-for-one exchange rate for ostmarks and deutschemarks at the time of reunification and the mark's overvalued exchange rate at the launch of the euro.
Lafontaine has always said that Germany needs a more reflationary economic policy: yesterday's results suggest that people are now starting to listen.
Larry Elliott is the Guardian's economics editor
