Berlin, Dec 17

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was re-elected for a third term with a vote in the lower house of parliament Tuesday. Her coalition government will now be sworn into office to rule Europe's biggest economy for the next four years.

Merkel will be formally appointed by German President Joachim Gauck at the president's official residence and will then head back to parliament to be sworn into office, thus becoming the country's third post-war chancellor to win a third term.

Cabinet ministers of the coalition government, formed by Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), its Bavarian sister party Christian Social Union (CSU) and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), will also take oath in parliament.