Left-wing Die Linke party MP Gregor Gysi took over as leader of the opposition when Germany's two largest parties united in a "grand" coalition.
The ostensibly left-of-centre Social Democratic Party (SDP) ditched its principles in favour of throwing its support behind conservative leader Angela Merkel, shooing the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader into a third term as chancellor.
She was elected by parliament's lower house by a record majority of 462 votes to 150, with nine abstentions.
NICK WRIGHT returns to Berlin and finds a city in darkness and political turmoil
The German Chancellor seeks EU sanctions on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to prevent future governments from resuming Russian gas deliveries, delivering a devastating blow to German industry — and German workers, writes RAINER RUPP
JOHN GREEN observes how Berlin’s transformation from socialist aspiration to imperial nostalgia mirrors Germany’s dangerous trajectory under Chancellor Merz — a BlackRock millionaire and anti-communist preparing for a new war with Russia
In part two of May’s Berlin Bulletin, VICTOR GROSSMAN, having assessed the policies of the new government, looks at how the opposition is faring



