German lawmakers voted on Wednesday to re-elect Angela Merkel as chancellor for a fourth, and likely final, term that may prove her most challenging yet as she takes charge of a fragile coalition with her personal standing diminished.
Lawmakers voted by 364 to 315, with nine abstentions, in favour of re-electing Merkel, a humbling start as the coalition of her conservatives and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) has 399 votes in the Bundestag lower house of parliament.
"I accept the vote," a beaming Merkel, 63, told lawmakers.
In office since 2005, she has dominated Germany's political landscape and steered the European Union through