Germany's Merkel sworn in as chancellor

Outgoing German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (bottom) walks away after congratulating his successor Angela Merkel after she was elected new chancellor during a session of parliament in Berlin yesterday.. PHOTO: AFP

The pastor's daughter became Germany's eighth postwar leader and the first person from the former communist east to take the helm of the reunited country.

Merkel, 51, added the optional phrase "so help me God" at the end of the formal oath. Her predecessor Gerhard Schroeder had omitted it during his swearing-in as chancellor in 1998 and after his re-election in 2002.

Lawmakers voted 397 to 202 with 12 abstentions to make Merkel Germany's eighth leader since World War II, succeeding Gerhard Schroeder, whose seven-year government of Social Democrats and Greens was ousted by voters Sept. 18.

Schroeder was the first to walk over and congratulate a smiling Merkel after the vote was announced.

"Dear Mrs. Merkel, you are the first democratically elected female head of government in Germany," parliament president Norbert Lammert said. "That is a strong signal for women and certainly for some men, too. I wish you strength, God's blessing and also some enjoyment in your high office."