BERLIN, Dec 8, (Asia Free Press): After a splendid tenure of Angela Markel as a Chancellor ended, Olaf Scholz from Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) has been elected as the new Federal Chancellor of Germany for the period of four-years, according to media reported.
Before joining this high-profile position, Scholz has served as Vice-Chancellor to Angela Merkel and as minister of Finance since March 2018. He also previously served as the first mayor of Hamburg from 2011 to 2018 and was the deputy leader of the Social Democratic Party from 2009 to 2019.
According to the German Bundestag, or the lower house of Parliament, Scholz got 395 of the 707 votes, well above the 369-vote majority required in the 736-seat Bundestag.
The newly-elected chancellor then went to the official residence of the Federal President at Bellevue Palace where he was appointed by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and was then sworn in at the Bundestag, Xinhua reported.
Later in the day, the new government’s ministers were also appointed. Afterwards,the incoming Scholz officially took over the chancellery from Angela Merkel, who served the country for more than a decade with this prestigious position.
The SPD won the federal election at the end of September. Scholz will lead the country’s first three-party coalition of SPD, the Greens and the Free Democratic Party (FDP). The parties signed a 177-page coalition agreement, reported German media.
World’s leaders like Chinese President Xi Jinping, US President Joe Biden, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan have welcomed the newly-elected German Chancellor.
