Iran Press/ Europe: Lawmakers voted by 395-303 to elect Scholz, with six abstentions — a comfortable majority, though short of the 416 seats his three-party coalition holds in the 736-seat lower house of parliament. That’s not unusual when chancellors are elected, and some lawmakers were out sick.
Olaf Scholz, 63, and his Green and free-market coalition partners have agreed on a four-year program to overhaul Germany’s economy, fight climate change, digitize public services, and reverse its demographic decline.
Merkel watched proceedings from the visitors’ gallery. The outgoing chancellor, who is ending her political career after leading the country for 5,860 days and will not continue as an MP, received a standing ovation from almost all delegates in the last minutes of her tenure.
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