Berlin: Angela Merkel and her new cabinet have been sworn into office before Germany’s lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, almost six months after elections, the longest period taken to form a government in the history of the federal republic.
Ending with the phrase “So help me God,” Merkel took her oath of office in Berlin in front of parliamentary speaker and former finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble on Wednesday.
The 15 cabinet ministers took their oath of office before Schaeuble later on Wednesday afternoon.
Merkel had earlier been elected to her fourth term as chancellor by the Bundestag, garnering 364 of the 688 votes cast in the secret ballot on Wednesday morning.
At least 355 votes were required in the 709-seat chamber. There were 315 votes against her re-election and nine abstentions.
For the first time, Merkel’s husband Joachim Sauer was present for the vote, as was her mother, Herlind Kasner.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier had earlier proposed Merkel — who heads the largest party in the chamber, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) — as chancellor to the lawmakers in accordance with the constitution. He later put forward the cabinet members.
The leader of Die Linke (The Left), a hard-left opposition party, tweeted that it was a bad day for Germany.
“After months the coalition that lost the election elects #Merkel to the head of the next carry-on-as-before government,” Sahra Wagenknecht wrote.
The head of the free-market liberal Free Democrats (FDP) Christian Lindner expressed concerns at the coalition’s expenditure plans. “This grand coalition, the last government of Mrs Merkel, is only grand in one way, namely in spending money,” he said on German television.
One member of the largest opposition party, the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was ejected from the visitors’ gallery for unfurling a banner reading “Merkel must go!”
An AfD lawmaker from Bavaria, Petr Bystron, was fined 1,000 euros ($1,240) for breaking Bundestag rules by tweeting a photo of his ballot paper with a cross next to “No” and the message “Not my chancellor.”
German authorities policing the ceremony also overpowered a man who approached Merkel in a suspicious manner as she was leaving the parliament building, according to video footage.
The man was shown being overwhelmed by two security personnel in video footage posted online by German newspaper Die Welt.
Merkel had struggled to form a new government since inconclusive election results in September. — dpa
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