German Chancellor Angela Merkel is congratulated by Horst Seehofer (C) of the Christian Social Union (CSU) after being re-elected as chancellor during a meeting of the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament in Berlin on December 17.

Merkel was elected to a third term as chancellor in a vote in the German lower house of parliament on Tuesday, paving the way for her new "grand coalition" government to be sworn in and formally take power later in the day.-Reuters/Tobias Schwarz