Germany's newly elected parliament convened for its first meeting Tuesday, one month after voters failed to give either center-left or center-right alliances a majority. The lower house must by law convene within 30 days after the election, when the term of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's outgoing government officially expires. However, with negotiations on a new government under Chancellor-designate Angela Merkel expected to last until mid-November, Schroeder's Cabinet will stay in office on a caretaker basis, The Associated Press reported. After outgoing Interior Minister Otto Schily _ at 73, the oldest member of parliament _ opened Tuesday's session, lawmakers were set only to elect the new parliament president and his deputies. The parliamentary president's job is expected to go to Norbert Lammert, a lawmaker with Merkel's Christian Democratic Union. That post, like the chancellorship, traditionally goes to the party with the strongest parliamentary group. The CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, have 226 seats in the new parliament _ only just ahead of the Social Democrats, who have 222.
