Angela Merkel will become Germany's first woman chancellor on Tuesday with the broadest parliamentary mandate in decades to pursue overdue economic reforms, Reuters reported. Merkel's centre-right Christian Democrats and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) will form Germany's first "grand coalition" since 1969, commanding a crushing majority of 448 of the its 614 seats in parliament's lower house. The two main parties also dominate the upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat, giving the new government an opportunity to implement reforms of the federal structure, pensions and taxes without fear of a veto. "The election taught me that Germans are hesitant to accept reforms," said Volker Kauder, Merkel's parliamentary floor leader, in an interview with the weekly Bild am Sonntag. "And that's exactly where this grand coalition's great chance is. Both parties have to link arms together to convince the public of the need for reforms and get them with us." Merkel was forced to form a "grand coalition" after neither of the two main parties was able to secure a clear majority for either the left or the right in a Sept. 18 general election. --more 2225 Local Time 1925 GMT
