German lawmakers meet for the first time since election

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German lawmakers meet for the first time since election

BERLIN, Oct 26 Reuters - German lawmakers gathered on Tuesday as a new parliament featuring more women and members from ethnic minorities than ever before met for the first time while outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel looked on from the visitors' gallery.

Comprising lawmakers of the youngest ever average age and including the first two transgender women deputies, the lower house chamber, or Bundestag, convened to elect a speaker and other members of its presidium.

Merkel's conservatives suffered their worst ever result in the national ballot of Sept. 26, when the new deputies were elected but she did not stand. Her own approval ratings remain high, and she will stay in office in a caretaker capacity until the Bundestag chooses her successor, likely to be Olaf Scholz of the centre-left Social Democrats SPD read more.

The SPD, who finished first in the election, are in talks to form a coalition government with the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats by December 6 that would oust Merkel's conservatives after 16 years in power. The three parties are depicting their coalition - which would be the first of its kind at national level - as a new start for Germany that would have a focus on modernising Europe's largest economy and combating climate change.

In negotiations so far, they have projected a more left-leaning front than many expected, especially given the ideological differences between the FDP and the more left-leaning Greens and SPD.

That could allay fears in Germany and beyond that the departure of Merkel, the dominant European leader of her generation, could herald a period of political instability.

The new Bundestag - the largest in its post-war federal history - is also the 20th federal government with 736 lawmakers.

It is not expected to pass any laws until a new coalition has formed and it is required to vote in the new chancellor.