JUST IN: German parliament re-elects Merkel for fourth term

Germany’s parliament elected Angela Merkelfor her fourth term as chancellor
on Wednesday, putting an end to nearly six months of political
drift in Europe’s biggest economy.

Lawmakers voted 364-315 to re-elect Merkel, Germany’s leader
since 2005, who ran unopposed. The coalition of Merkel’s
conservative Christian Democratic Union, its Bavaria-only sister
party, the Christian Social Union and the center-left Social
Democrats has 399 of the 709 seats in parliament.

Merkel will head a much-changed new Cabinet, with the governing
parties — which are traditional rivals — keen to send signals of
renewal after a September election in which all lost significant
ground. There are new faces in the most important posts, the
finance, foreign, economy and interior ministries.

The same parties have governed for the past four years but
putting together the new administration has been unprecedentedly
hard work.

Wednesday’s parliamentary vote came 171 days after the election,
nearly double the previous record. The Social Democrats initially
planned to go into opposition after crashing to their worst result
since World War II, but Germany’s president nudged
them into a reluctant about-turn after Merkel’s talks with two
smaller parties collapsed in November.

Merkel was able to take office only after two-thirds of the
Social Democrats’ members approved in a ballot the coalition deal
clinched last month. At least 35 coalition lawmakers didn’t support
her Wednesday, though that was in line with results at the
beginning of her two previous “grand coalitions” of Germany’s
biggest parties.

She will have to hold together what is potentially her most
fragile coalition yet in what is widely expected to be her last
term, while also addressing challenges such as a potential
Europe-U.S. trade war and seeking agreement with France and others
on the future of a fractious European Union.

Thorsten Faas, a political science professor at Berlin’s Free
University, said the coalition is likely to last until 2021 as
scheduled and noted that the governing parties have demonstrated
that they can work together.

“A firm foundation, and I think this government has one, is
important to be able to work in uncertain times,” Faas told ZDF
television. “So I think there is some reason for optimism.”

Germany’s parliament elected Angela Merkelfor her fourth term as chancellor
on Wednesday, putting an end to nearly six months of political
drift in Europe’s biggest economy.

Lawmakers voted 364-315 to re-elect Merkel, Germany’s leader
since 2005, who ran unopposed. The coalition of Merkel’s
conservative Christian Democratic Union, its Bavaria-only sister
party, the Christian Social Union and the center-left Social
Democrats has 399 of the 709 seats in parliament.

Merkel will head a much-changed new Cabinet, with the governing
parties — which are traditional rivals — keen to send signals of
renewal after a September election in which all lost significant
ground. There are new faces in the most important posts, the
finance, foreign, economy and interior ministries.

The same parties have governed for the past four years but
putting together the new administration has been unprecedentedly
hard work.

Wednesday’s parliamentary vote came 171 days after the election,
nearly double the previous record. The Social Democrats initially
planned to go into opposition after crashing to their worst result
since World War II, but Germany’s president nudged
them into a reluctant about-turn after Merkel’s talks with two
smaller parties collapsed in November.

Merkel was able to take office only after two-thirds of the
Social Democrats’ members approved in a ballot the coalition deal
clinched last month. At least 35 coalition lawmakers didn’t support
her Wednesday, though that was in line with results at the
beginning of her two previous “grand coalitions” of Germany’s
biggest parties.

She will have to hold together what is potentially her most
fragile coalition yet in what is widely expected to be her last
term, while also addressing challenges such as a potential
Europe-U.S. trade war and seeking agreement with France and others
on the future of a fractious European Union.

Thorsten Faas, a political science professor at Berlin’s Free
University, said the coalition is likely to last until 2021 as
scheduled and noted that the governing parties have demonstrated
that they can work together.

“A firm foundation, and I think this government has one, is
important to be able to work in uncertain times,” Faas told ZDF
television. “So I think there is some reason for optimism.”