A chemist and an actor have been voted Germany's first black lawmakers. Karamba Diaby and Charles M.Huber, descended from Senegal, have been hailed as figures of historical importance for the country - which celebrated the start of Angela Merkel's third term in office on Sunday. They were among 34 MPs with immigrant backgrounds to win seats in Sunday's election, up from 21 in the previous term. Senegalese-born chemist Karamba Diaby moved to the city of Halle in 1986 after receiving a scholarship to study in communist East Germany. The 51-year-old, who stood for Angela Merkel's rival Social Democratic Party, gained German citizenship in 2001. Speaking at the election, he declared his priority would be to promote equal opportunities in education. He said: 'My election into the German Parliament is of historical importance. 'Every child born in Germany should have the chance to be successful in school regardless of their social background or the income of their parents.' The other black MP elected on Sunday was Charles M. Huber, a 56-year-old actor born in Munich to a Senegalese father and a German mother. Huber is a member of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, which won the election with 41.5 per cent of the vote. Although nearly one in five of Germany's 80 million people are immigrants, or the children or grandchildren of immigrants, relatively few have made it into Parliament. Until now there were no black lawmakers in the lower house, despite more than 500,000 people of recent African origin believed to be living in Germany. Merkel's party also welcomed its first Muslim lawmaker into the Bundestag. Cemile Giousouf was elected in the western town of Hagen. The 35-year-old was born in Germany to Turkish immigrant parents. She is one of many lawmakers descended from Turkey to make it into the lower house, but most have been members of the Social Democratic Party, the environmentalist Green Party or the Left Party, according to the country's Migration Media Service. The historic shift mirrored Chancellor Angela Merkel's unprecedented victory, winning a third term in power last night. The result makes her the only European leader not to become a casualty of Europe’s financial crisis. Official results have now confirmed that Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives won Germany's election with 41.5 per cent of the vote but indicate that they have finished short of an absolute majority. Its coalition partners, the pro-business Free Democrats, slumped to 4.8 percent - not enough to win seats. Challenger Peer Steinbrueck's Social Democrats won 25.7 percent, their Green allies 8.4 percent and the hard-line Left Party 8.6 percent. The likeliest outcome for coalition is with the Social Democrats. Speaking before the result, the Chancellor, 59, said it was too early to discuss plans for the next government. Merkel said: 'I see the next four years in front of me and I can promise that we will face many tasks, at home, in Europe and in the world. 'We will do all we can in the next four years together to make them successful years for Germany. 'It is too early to say how we will proceed but today we should celebrate.' The result is an improvement of more than eight points on the last election in 2009. The Union's strong showing was also personal victory for Merkel, who has held the position since 2005, solidifying her position as arguably Europe's strongest political leader. Victory at the polls was tempered by a disastrous showing from the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) - Merkel's current junior coalition party - which only won 4.8 per cent of the vote. It means they cannot rule for a second term in power with the incumbent Chancellor. The result could see the center-right party face an embarrassing ejection from parliament also. The exit polls were greeted by shocked silence by the Free Democrats' at their election event. Four years ago, the party won nearly 15 percent of the vote, its best-ever result - but the party has taken much of the blame for squabbling in Merkel's governing coalition since then.