Angela Merkel elected to fourth term as German Chancellor
Angela Merkel has been elected by German lawmakers for a fourth term as Chancellor and is due to be sworn in Wednesday, CNN reports.
The vote in parliament Wednesday morning ends almost six months of political turmoil after a federal election saw millions of voters desert the two mainstream parties - Merkel's CDU and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) - turning instead to parties on the left and right.
In a secret ballot, 364 of the Bundestag's 709 members voted in favor of Merkel -- nine more than the 50% required.
Merkel's victory marks the final stepping stone on the path to Germany's new government -- a renewal of the so-called grand coalition ("GroKo") between the Chancellor's CDU/CSU alliance and the SPD.
Merkel will first travel to the Berlin residence of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to be officially nominated before returning to the Bundestag to be sworn in as Chancellor later on Wednesday.