BERLIN: German lawmakers gathered on Tuesday, as a new parliament featuring more women and members from ethnic minorities than ever before met for the first time while outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel looked on from the visitors' gallery.
Comprising lawmakers of the youngest ever average age and including the first two transgender women deputies, the lower house chamber, or Bundestag, convened to elect a speaker and other members of its presidium.
Merkel's conservatives suffered their worst ever result in the national ballot of September 26, when the new deputies were elected but in which she did not stand.
Her own approval ratings remain high, and she will stay in office in a caretaker capacity until the Bundestag chooses her successor, likely to be Olaf Scholz of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).
The SPD, who finished first in the election, are in talks to form a coalition government with the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats by December 6 that would oust Merkel's conservatives after 16 years in power.
The three parties are depicting their coalition - which would be the first of its kind at national level - as a new start for Germany that would have a focus on modernising Europe's largest economy and combating climate change.
In negotiations so far they have projected a more consensual front than many expected, particularly given the ideological differences between the FDP and the more left-leaning Greens and SPD.
That could allay fears in Germany and beyond that the departure of Merkel, the dominant European leader of her generation, could herald a period of political instability.
The new Bundestag - the 20th in its post-war federal history - is also the largest ever, with 736 lawmakers.
It is not expected to pass any laws until a new coalition has been formed and it is required to vote in the new chancellor.
Meanwhile, on the agenda is the election of a Bundestag president, or speaker, who traditionally comes from the largest parliamentary group - in this case the SPD - and of other members of the parliamentary presidium. The president helps set the debate schedule and defines parliamentary rules.
The SPD - currently in talks on forming a coalition government with the Greens and the FDP - has nominated health policy specialist Baerbel Bas. Her appointment would ensure the country's three top political offices - the others being chancellor and federal president - are not all held by men.
The Bundestag is able to pass laws after members are sworn in, though this rarely happens rarely while coalition talks are still ongoing. The Bundestag would not usually meet again until the election of a chancellor was on the agenda. Under the constitution, a chancellor's term ends when the new Bundestag convenes. However, if no new government has been formed, the outgoing chancellor stays in office as caretaker until a successor is elected.
There are no formal restrictions on the acting chancellor's powers during this time. Still, Merkel is a consensus seeker and previous chancellors have not taken radical decisions during such windows. - Reuters
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