Berlin swears in first elected female mayor

Berlin, Dec 21: Berlin's city-state parliament swore in Franziska Giffey as mayor on Tuesday after a vote by delegates in the House of Representatives.

The decision makes the regional leader of the Social Democrats (SPD) in Berlin ,the city's first elected female mayor.

House speaker Dennis Buchner said 84 deputies had voted for Giffey, while 52 voted against her and two abstained.

Giffey, who served as Germany's family minister until her resignation in May this year, had needed at least 74 votes for her election. She now heads the German capital's local government; a coalition of the center-left SPD, environmentalist Greens and the socialist Left Party, which together has 92 deputies.

While Giffey is the first woman to be elected as mayor of Berlin, the SPD's Louise Schroeder did serve as acting mayor from May 1947 until December 1948.

Schroeder had been deputy mayor was appointed to the top job after the first post-World War II mayor resigned.

Giffey served as minister for women and families in former Chancellor Angela Merkel's last government until her resignation amid allegations of plagiarism in her doctoral thesis. She was later stripped of her doctorate.

Source: DW