Dresden, Germany - Germany's opposition Social Democrats (SPD) elected Siegmar Gabriel as their new party leader Friday evening as the party starts to regroup after severe losses in the September national elections. Gabriel, who was enviroment minister in the last federal cabinet in the SPD's grand coalition with the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU), got 472 out of a total of 501 valid ballots cast at the party congress in Dresden, for a 94.2 per cent backing of the delegates.
He succeeds party veteran Franz Muentefering at the helm of the SPD.
In his farewell speech earlier Friday, Muentefering admitted he had made mistakes and so accepted responsibility for the SPD's poor showing on September 27 which saw the party ousted from power at the federal level after 11 years.
