Merkel narrowly elected for 4th term as chancellor

Berlin, March 14 

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel, bruised by half a year of post-election coalition haggling, was today narrowly confirmed by Parliament to her fourth and likely final term at the helm of Europe’s biggest economy.

Lawmakers in Berlin’s glass-domed Reichstag voted 364-315 with nine abstentions for Merkel, who was then formally appointed by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier before taking the oath of office.

Merkel, wearing a necklace in the national colours black-red-gold, nevertheless beamed with joy and relief as applause filled the Bundestag chamber, where her scientist husband Joachim Sauer and her 89-year-old mother Herlind Kasner were among the well-wishers.

For the veteran leader, the ceremony marked the end of a painful stretch of post-election paralysis, the deepest crisis of her 12-year career.

A right-wing populist rise in September elections weakened all mainstream parties and deprived Merkel of a majority, forcing her into another unhappy alliance with the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD).

The grand coalition, mockingly dubbed a “GroKo” in German, didn’t start as a “love marriage”. All coalition partners have nonetheless sought to allay fears that their marriage of convenience could break up mid-term, insisting they plan to jointly govern until 2021  — AFP 

Rocky start: Oppn 

• Lawmakers in Reichstag voted 364-315 with nine abstentions for Angela Merkel. In secret ballot, 35 lawmakers of her new right-left coalition bloc voted against her
• The Opposition labelled Merkel’s thin nine-vote margin win as “rocky start” for a spent and joyless governing alliance, which looks fragile with her personal standing diminished