Friedrich Merz passes the second attempt and is elected Chancellor of Germany

BerlinConservative Friedrich Merz is now German Chancellor. He won the election in a second round of voting in the Bundestag on Tuesday afternoon, after the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) He failed in his first attempt this morning. In an unexpected turn of events, unprecedented in the country's history, Merz fell six votes short of the necessary majority to be elected. He needed 316 votes, but obtained only 310, although the conservative CDU-CSU bloc and the Social Democratic Party, with which he has formed a coalition government, together have 328 seats. The result of the first vote highlights the fragility of the majority of the governing coalition in Europe's leading economic power. But six hours later, Merz has finally become Germany's head of government.

In this second vote, the CDU candidate obtained 325 votes in favor and 289 against. There was one abstention. In the morning, of the total of 630 deputies, 621 had voted: 310 in favor of Merz and 307 against. In addition, there was one spoiled vote and three abstentions. Bundestag President Julia Klöckner suspended the parliamentary session so the groups could decide how to proceed. According to the German Constitution, the lower house had 14 days to elect Merz or another candidate for chancellor with an absolute majority. But, to avoid a further political crisis, it was decided not to wait too long and to call a second vote for early this afternoon.

Merz's failure in the first round surprised everyone inside and outside the Bundestag. It was the first time such a thing had happened in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany. Before the vote, Merz and the leader of the Social Democratic Party, Lars Klingbeil, had asserted that they had enough votes to elect the chancellor. The leaders of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) officially signed the coalition agreement in Berlin on Monday, and in principle, they had a 12-vote margin in the vote in Parliament—amounting to 328 of the 630 seats.

However, the vote was secret, and therefore posed a certain risk. It is not yet known which MPs did not vote for the conservative candidate, nor whether the rebels or absentees came from the Christian Democrats or Social Democrats.

"SchMERZ!", headlined the newspaper Picture in its digital edition, making a play on words between pain in German (schmerz) and the surname of the chancellor candidate. The outgoing head of government, Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, will remain in office until a successor is appointed, as will his ministers. Scholz was dismissed on Monday evening with a Larger Zapfenstreich, a military retreat with torches and music played by the army band, following the tradition of this country.

The far right is demanding Merz withdraw

"A good day for Germany," reacted Tino Chrupalla, co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, after the events in the Bundestag in the morning. The fact that Merz was the first candidate for chancellor to fail in the first round of voting demonstrates "the weak foundation on which the small coalition between the CDU-CSU and the SPD was built, which was defeated by the citizens," added the AfD co-leader and leader of the opposition, who "believes that" early elections.

The Left Party (Die Linke) considered the result a vote of no confidence in Merz. "If he doesn't even have the trust of his own people, how will he win the trust of the people who struggle with real everyday problems?" the party's leader, Jan van Aken, told the German press.

Merz's investiture comes six months after the breakup of the coalition of Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals led by ScholzFormer chancellors Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz, as well as Merz's wife and daughters, attended Tuesday's historic session in Parliament. Merkel, her eternal rival in the party, attended the session seated in the visitors' gallery, as she is not a member of the Bundestag. Scholz, on the other hand, sat in the chamber, as he will continue his political activity as a member of the SPD after leaving the chancellery. Scholz won a direct mandate for Potsdam, his constituency, in the February federal elections.

After the second round of voting, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will present Merz with the official certificate of appointment during a ceremony at Bellevue Palace in Berlin, the residence of the German head of state. Merz will then return to the Bundestag to be sworn in by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and to officially present her cabinet, consisting of a total of 17 ministers. Following the tradition of previous chancellors, Merz plans to make her first trip to Paris and then hop on to Warsaw.