The
 vote in the Bundestag was a formality as the ruling parties hold an 
overwhelming majority of the seats. A total of 462 lawmakers backed 
Merkel for chancellor, with 150 voting against and 9 abstaining.
The
 new government faces a host of challenges, from bedding down European 
reforms aimed at shielding the bloc from future crises, to seeing 
through Merkel's costly switch from nuclear to renewable energy.
Merkel joins fellow conservatives Konrad Adenauer and Helmut Kohl as the only post-war chancellors to have won three terms.
German state of Hesse agrees conservative-green coalition deal
The
 German state of Hesse's centre-right Christian Democrats and its 
environmentalist Green Party finalized a coalition agreement on Tuesday,
 just as the country's nationwide grand coalition government was being 
sworn in.
The
 deal marks the first time in Germany's history that the conservative 
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the centre-left Greens have agreed 
to govern jointly in a larger state.
There has been one such coalition previously at a city-state level.
The
 two parties have been in coalition talks since November 22, two months 
after the regional election in the central German state took place.
The vote coincided with Germany's nationwide election.
Party
 leaders Volker Bouffier (CDU) and Tarek Al-Wazir (Green Party) are set 
to present the coalition agreement to their members on Wednesday.
The
 only other CDU-Green coalition to have existed in Germany came into 
force in the city-state of Hamburg in 2008, with the parties breaking 
off the alliance two years into the term.
Merkel is due to be sworn on Tuesday for rare third term as German chancellor ending political limbo 
Asked
 in September how long she expected coalition negotiations to take, 
chancellor Angela Merkel joked that "Christmas comes sooner than you 
think." Christmas is coming and Angela Merkel is due to be sworn on 
Tuesday for a rare third term as German chancellor, capping months of 
political uncertainty as she bartered with her rivals to help govern 
Europe's top economy. Eighty-six
 days after Merkel, 59, swept to victory in elections but failed to grab
 an outright majority, the Bundestag lower house of parliament will vote
 on handing her another four-year term. The ballot is secret but the outcome likely holds little surprise.
With
 a whopping 504 of the 631 seats, Merkel's conservatives and their new 
centre-left partners, the Social Democrats (SPD), hold a comfortable 
majority under their hard-fought 'grand coalition' deal.
Afterwards
 she must be confirmed by President Joachim Gauck at the presidential 
palace before returning to the Bundestag to be sworn in as Germany's 
only third post-war chancellor to win a third mandate.
The
 ceremony and later swearing-in of ministers followed by the first 
cabinet meeting will enable Merkel to finally get back down to business 
in earnest after the longest government-building period since World War 
II.
Merkel
 is then due to address parliament Wednesday and travel to Paris for 
talks with President Francois Hollande the same day, ahead of an EU 
summit at the end of the week.
A
 parliament debate after Wednesday's address will be the first 
opportunity for a face-off across the floor since the SPD moved off the 
opposition benches.  Merkel
 has defended the time spent haggling over policy and posts with an 
initially reluctant SPD as time well spent, voicing appreciation on 
signing the coalition pact Monday "that we listened to each other."
Few observers doubt though that the road ahead will be bumpy.
 AFP, dpa, Reuters,VOR