国际英语新闻：Christian Wulff becomes Germany's 10th President after three ballots

The coalition government controls 644 votes in paper, 21 more votes than an absolute majority in the Federal Assembly, formed by 1244 delegates from both houses of parliament and states.

If all coalition delegates follow their party leaders, Wulff can easily win an absolute majority in the first round of secret ballot to become new President.

However, Wulff only got 600 votes in the first ballot and 615 votes in the second, lower than the 623 votes needed to win the election, forcing the Federal Assembly to make the third ballot.

The election "didn't show the unity of the coalition," said by Wolfgang Bosbach, a delegate from Merkel's Christian Democrats after the second ballot.

Besides the frictions within the coalition, clear differences can also be observed in the opposition parities during this election

Germany's new President Christian Wulff, right, kisses his wife Bettina Wulff after the German presidential election in the Berlin at the Reichstag building, Wednesday, June 30, 2010.

In the first and second ballots, Luc Jochimsen from the Left party won 126 and 123 votes separately, while Gauck from the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens won 499 and 490 votes. If these three opposition parties can united, Wulff will face serious challenge in the election.

However, during the third ballot, although Jochimsen withdrew, both she and Gregor Gysi, the Left party leader in parliament still called for its members to abstain instead of supporting Gauck from Social Democrats and the Greens.