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"Mr. President, I Accept"

Angela Merkel Elected as Germany's First Woman Chancellor

After a vote of parliament on Tuesday, Angela Merkel of the conservative Christian Democratic Union is formally elected as Germany's eighth leader since World War II and its first female chancellor.

DPA

Angela Merkel is Germany's new chancellor.

On Tuesday morning, Angela Merkel cleared the final hurdle to becoming chancellor after the German parliament voted overwhelmingly to elevate her to the country's highest political office. After she is sworn in later in the afternoon, Merkel will begin her new job as Germany's first-ever woman leader. 

At 10:53 CET, the president of the Bundestag announced the result of the parliamentary vote, which favored Merkel by 397-202. After the announcement of the results, Merkel, grinning from cheek to cheek, said: "Mr. President, I accept."

Over the weekend, both parties expressed concern over renegade voters within the coalition who might oppose Merkel when it came down to the vote. A total of 202 parliamentarians cast votes against Merkel on Tuesday -- and news agencies reported that some of those votes came from the left-leaning Social Democratic Party (SPD), the junior partner in the new grand coalition government. 

SPIEGEL Online will be reporting throughout the day on the swearing in of Merkel, the new government and the first meeting of the new parliament this evening.

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