Friedrich Merz faced an unexpected setback as he failed to secure the necessary majority votes to become Germany’s new chancellor.
Merz, backed by the CDU-CSU coalition, garnered 310 votes, six short of the required 316 in a secret ballot in the Bundestag, which has 630 members. As a result, the swearing-in ceremony, initially expected for Tuesday, is now delayed, according to dw.com
Under German law, if no candidate achieves an absolute majority in the first round, a second round is held. If the second round also fails, a third phase begins, leading to a new election where the candidate with the most votes is appointed chancellor.
Merz’s CDU-CSU bloc won the February elections but with only 28.5% of the vote, necessitating a coalition with other parties. He agreed to form a partnership with the Social Democrats (SPD), who achieved their worst post-war result at 16.4%. Parties are now discussing the next steps.
