Angela Merkel is elected to a third term as chancellor in a vote in the German lower house of parliament on Tuesday, paving the way for her new "grand coalition" government to be sworn in and formally take power later in the day (12 30 GMT). Merkel's conservatives scored their best result in over two decades in a German election on September 22 but were forced into lengthy coalition talks with the rival Social Democrats (SPD), whose members only approved the deal last weekend.
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
