Two and a half months after the elections in Germany, the social democrat Olaf Scholz was elected chancellor Wednesday by the deputies, bringing the center-left to power and definitively closing the 16 years of the Angela Merkel era.
Of the 736 elected members of the Bundestag resulting from the September 26 election, 395 voted for Olaf Scholz, 303 against and 6 abstained, allowing him to become the ninth chancellor of post-war Germany.
"Yes," Olaf Scholz then replied to Bundestag President Bärbel Bas, who asked him if he accepted the result of the vote.
The President of the Federal Republic, Frank-Walter Steinmeier must now give him his “deed of appointment”, which will then mark the official start of his mandate.
At midday, he will take the oath, with his government, before the deputies.
There was no doubt about his election: his Social Democratic Party (SPD), which won the legislative elections, has a comfortable majority (206 seats), with its two new coalition partners, the Greens (118 seats) and the Liberals. of the FDP (92).
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This vote marks the withdrawal of Angela Merkel after four terms of office which, within nine days, did not allow her to break the longevity record held by Helmut Kohl (1982-1998). Present in the assembly to attend the election of her successor, she was applauded at length by the deputies, most of them standing, before the opening of the plenary session. In response, Angela Merkel, medical mask on her face, waved to them from the grandstand.
The leader, who has received cascading tributes in recent weeks, will leave the chancellery permanently after a handover ceremony in the afternoon with Olaf Scholz, her political opponent but also, game of alliances oblige, her Minister of Finance and vice-chancellor for the past 4 years.
Angela Merkel, at the height of her popularity not long ago, is putting an end to 31 years of political career.