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ANGELA MERKEL was sworn in for her fourth term as German chancellor yesterday after Bundestag members voted by a 364-315 margin to re-elect her.
Her confirmation followed nearly six months after the general election and lengthy coalition-building efforts.
She received just nine more votes than she needed for re-election, but her total added up to 35 votes fewer than the number of seats held by the “grand coalition” of her conservative Christian Democrats and the centre-left Social Democrats.
The Social Democrats had initially planned to go into opposition after dire results in the election but reconsidered, fearing the straits to which another contest might reduce them.
Ms Merkel’s deputy chancellor Olaf Scholz, a Social Democrat who served as her Labour Minister during the 2008 financial crisis, takes over as finance minister from conservative Wolfgang Schaeuble.
However, government economic policies are unlikely to change since rightwinger Mr Scholz is firmly committed to balanced budgets.
