Germany’s new parliament elects Social Democrat as speaker

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER
Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s newly elected parliament has elected a lawmaker from the center-left Social Democratic Party as speaker of the 736-member lower house, or Bundestag. The new speaker, Baerbel, Bas, has been a legislator since 2009 and was a deputy leader of her party’s group in the last parliament. She told fellow lawmakers Tuesday that she would work for fairer representation of women in parliament. German Chancellor Angela Merkel attended the session although she is no longer a lawmaker. Later in the afternoon, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is set to formally dismiss Merkel and her Cabinet, though they will be asked to stay on in a caretaker capacity until a new government is in place.