Scholz elected chancellor by Bundestag after 16 years of Merkel | Abroad

Voting started just after 9:00 am. MPs took turns walking forward to vote. That was a formality. The parties that will form a coalition under the leadership of Scholz have a clear majority in the Bundestag of 416 of the 736 seats. These are the center-left SPD of Scholz, the environmental party the Greens and the liberal FDP.

It is the first time that these parties form a government. Scholz received 395 votes in favor and 303 against in the Bundestag. After he was said to have had enough votes and after it was officially announced that he had been elected, there was a long round of applause.

Scholz will take his oath of office later on Wednesday and his ministers will also be sworn in. Merkel will officially hand over her duties around 3 p.m. She just fell short of becoming Germany’s longest-serving chancellor. She is several weeks short of taking over that record from Helmut Kohl.

Rutte wishes new Chancellor Scholz good luck

Outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte wishes the new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz “all success.” In a tweet, he said he was also looking forward to future cooperation with the Social Democrat “as good neighbors in Europe.”

Rutte also reflects on the departure of Angela Merkel after sixteen years as head of government of Germany. “It also feels like the end of an era to me personally. The Netherlands and I owe her a lot of thanks.”

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