Horst Koehler, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, was elected as Germany's ninth post-war president by a special federal assembly in the Reichstag parliament building today.
Koehler won an absolute majority in the first round of voting by the 1,204-member assembly, with 604 votes for the ceremonial office and a five-year term.
He was nominated by the opposition Christian Democrats and their Free Democrats allies.