New German President Elected

(Berlin, Germany) Activist Lutheran pastor Joachim Gauck has been elected President of Germany, a largely ceremonial office which reportedly functions as a moral compass for the nation.

Gauck, 72, claimed 991 votes out of 1,232 from a special assembly of MPs and other dignitaries, parliamentary speaker Norbert Lammert said, against prominent Nazi hunter Beate Klarsfeld, 73, who was nominated as a protest candidate by the socialist Left party.

"What a beautiful Sunday," Gauck said to enthusiastic applause from the chamber of the glass-domed Reichstag parliament building in central Berlin after the vote.

It was the third presidential election in three years for Germany after the abrupt resignations of Gauck's two predecessors.

Both of Gauck's predecessors resigned under scandal, likely besmirching the moral compass of the office.

In comparison, polling indicates that most people view Gauck as moral, with 80 percent saying he is trustworthy. Apparently, the fact that Gauck makes a mockery of the institution of marriage didn't factor into the poll respondents' opinions.

Gauck looked set to buck tradition from the start, as his longtime girlfriend Daniela Schadt said he had no plans to divorce his estranged wife of more than 50 years Gerhild and wed her.

"I see no reason to marry for reasons of protocol," the 52-year-old journalist who is now Germany's First Lady told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

"Considering the fact that not only Jochen and I but the whole family accepts our arrangement, I think the rest of society can live with it," she said, using Gauck's nickname.

Joachim Gauck & Daniela Schadt
It would seem that living an adulterous life and disrespecting the sanctity of marriage vows would somehow disqualify a person from overseeing the moral compass of the nation. Apparently not. Must be a European thing.