Germany's Merkel reelected chief of conservative party

Germany's Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) Tuesday reelected Angela Merkel as its parliament chief after no party won a clear majority in Sunday's election.

Merkel won a majority of over 98 percent of the alliance's 225 new Bundestag or parliament members. She was elected with 93.7 percent parliament support two years ago.

Both Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Merkel claimed victory in Sunday's election as neither Merkel's alliance nor Schroeder's coalition won a majority to form a new government.

"As the strongest group in parliament, we have the right to form the government and to lead the coalition talks," Merkel said.

However, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) insisted that the CDU/CSU, which jointly got 35.2 percent of votes, are two parties and SPD, which won 34.3 percent of votes, is the biggest party in the parliament.

After the results of the election came out on Sunday, Schroeder said that Germany will be "under my leadership" in the next few years.

Merkel's reelection as the parliament chief of the CDU/CSU indicates that the party will not give in in the fight for the chancellorship with the SPD.

Also on Tuesday, SPD Chairman Franz Muentefering was reelected as the parliament chief of his party.

However, Joschka Fischer, the current foreign minister, said Tuesday that he will not lead the Greens in parliament in order to make room for younger people to lead.

Fischer, foreign minister for the past seven years in the Social Democrat-Green party coalition government and the Green Party's chairman, told reporters that he planned to stay in the Bundestag, the lower house of the parliament, but didn't want to lead the Green Party any more.

"I'd like to let younger (members) take the lead," said 57-year- old Fischer.

But Fischer said he wouldn't decline to take the post of a minister if the Green Party joined the government.

The Greens, which netted only 8.1 percent of the vote on Sunday, are possible coalition partners for both the CDU/CSU and the SPD.

Source: Xinhua