Left picks Gysi for Bundestag

The 65-year-old diminutive politician is one of Germany's best public speakers. The former attorney was the last leader of the former East Germany's ruling Socialist Unity Party and has faced repeated allegations of having been an informant for the Stasi secret service. Recently his fiercest battle was for his own health: he survived a heart operation and brain surgery.

44-year old Sahra Wagenknecht will be Gregor Gysi's deputy. She had wanted to become co-leader of the parliamentary group, but then backed down, suggesting publicly that this was in response to pressure from Gysi. Wagenknecht, who is the partner of 70 year old Left Party icon Oscar Lafontaine, represents the party's uncompromising socialist wing.

Anton Hofreiter, 43, the new Green Party group co-leader, is a Bavarian with a PhD in biology who joined the Bundestag in 2009, where he's led the transportation committee. In his new role, the Green left winger wants to refocus on environmental topics. And he says he's sick of the one topic that's come up in every interview since he stepped into the limelight following the elections: his hair.

Katrin Göring-Eckardt, 47, a Protestant theologian from East Gemany, was one of the two heads of the Greens' failed election campaign. She represents her party's moderate, centrist wing: "Our task is to make ourselves more able to connect with the middle ground in society," she said after her election to the influential parliamentary post.

Volker Kauder, 64, a trained attorney, joined the conservatives at age 17. The passionate Protestant has broad support in his southwest German constituency of Tuttlingen, which he has represented in parliament since 1990. Kauder has moved through the party ranks and is one of Angela Merkel's most experienced and trusted allies.

In public opinion polls Steinmeier is the most popular SPD politician. The 57-year old served as Foreign Minister from 2005-2009 in Angela Merkel's "grand coalition" government and challenged her in the in the 2009 election - and lost. Since then he has been SPD parliamentary group leader - opting out for several weeks in 2010 when he donated a kidney to his wife.