Merkel begins fourth term as German chancellor
Germany’s parliament yesterday voted to elect Angela Merkel for a fourth term as chancellor, ending months of political deadlock in Europe’s biggest economy.
Politicians in the Reichstag elected her by a margin of 364315, while nine abstained. She has been Germany’s leader since 2005, but her political standing was greatly diminished after national elections in September, in which her party bloc fell to unexpected lows.
The new term is expected to be her most challenging yet, as she takes charge of a fragile coalition and seeks to juggle competing domestic demands.
The alliance of her conservative Christian Democratic Union, its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) has 399 of the 709 seats in the Bundestag lower house of parliament.
That means at least 35 coalition politicians did not support her yesterday.
“I’m quite sure she will go the full four years,” said Leopold Traugott, a policy analyst for the Open Europe think tank. “There has been a lot of criticism of her, but people have time and again underestimated Merkel and predicted her imminent demise. So far she has always managed to pull through and I think we will see that again this time.”
The SPD initially planned to go into opposition after September’s election, in which its support also crashed. But after Mrs Merkel’s talks with two smaller parties failed in November, she turned to the SPD to prolong the “grand coalition” that has governed Germany since 2013.
Two thirds of SPD members gave their blessing for the coalition deal last month, paving the way for yesterday’s parliamentary vote, in which Mrs Merkel ran unopposed.
She was then formally appointed by Germany’s president Frank-Walter Steinmeier before taking the oath of office. Ministers were sworn in later in the day, with new faces in all the most senior posts.
Mrs Merkel faces a growing list of international challenges, such as a potential Europe-US trade war, a fraught relationship with Russia and France’s calls for closer ties between EU nations.
The 63-year-old has dominated Germany’s political landscape for years and is Europe’s longest-serving leader.
But her authority was dented by her decision in 2015 to commit Germany to an open-door policy on migration, resulting in an influx of more than one million people. The anger towards this policy was reflected in the surge of support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in September’s election, which won votes from both coalition partners.
Ms Merkel is now likely to be challenged more often in a parliament that includes the AfD. In response to questions about her political standing after the election, Ms Merkel said she has no intention of quitting before her term ends in 2021.