what the hell did they just do?

Angela Merkel, the first female and the first East German to become Chancellor of Germany Did Germany just have an election? We should all envy the gridlock the Germans will experience with their new power-sharing government Merkel wins fight to be Chancellor but radical reforms will be ditched Germany's conservative leader, Angela Merkel, won the bitter race to lead her country yesterday after Chancellor Gerhard Schröder finally conceded defeat three weeks after narrowly losing the general election Yet Ms Merkel's historic victory - she has become the first woman leader of the most powerful, albeit ailing, economy on the continent - is overshadowed by the political deal-making necessary to propel her into office. She has been forced into a power-sharing deal with Mr Schröder's Social Democrats in a so-called "grand coalition" of the country's two biggest parties. Mr Schröder exacted a heavy price for his departure by securing key ministries for his Social Democrats which could, in effect, torpedo any real reforms the new Chancellor hoped to institute to get Germany working again.