BERLIN, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- Angela Merkel on Tuesday by a near total majority got re-elected as head of the combined CDU/CSU parliamentary group.
All but three of the 225 conservative lawmakers in the new Bundestag (federal parliament) voted "yes" to Merkel's re-election, which the conservatives undertook to strengthen her position in light of Germany's political deadlock ahead of coalition talks.
"I'm happy about the vote," Merkel told reporters in Berlin. "We underlined that we, as the strongest faction, have the mandate to form a strong and stable government."
When Edmund Stoiber, Merkel's key ally in Bavaria, praised the top candidate's merits in the current campaign, the lawmakers erupted in a "several minutes long applause," Ronald Pofalla, the CDU's deputy parliamentary leader, told German news channel Phoenix.
"I think the result of 98.7 percent can't make it more clear that Mrs. Merkel has the total backing of her faction for the goal to make her Germany's first woman chancellor," he said.
The decision comes as German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder continues to claim the office of the chancellorship after his party won a better and the conservatives a worse result than expected.
The vote will improve Merkel's standing when it comes to coalition negotiations, observers said.
