DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,
Friedrich Merz receives 325 votes in the second round of voting, hours after a shock defeat in the first ballot.
Conservative leader Friedrich Merz has been elected Germany’s chancellor in a second round of parliamentary voting after his new alliance with the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) was dealt a surprise defeat in the first attempt.
Merz’s failure to win parliamentary backing in the first round of voting was a first for post-war Germany.
Merz received 325 votes in the second round of voting on Tuesday.
He needed a majority of 316 out of 630 votes in a secret ballot, but only received 310 votes in the first round, well short of the 328 seats held by his coalition.
After the vote, the 69-year-old headed to the nearby Bellevue Palace to be formally nominated by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Later, Merz will return to the historic Reichstag building in the heart of Berlin to take the oath of office to become Germany’s 10th chancellor since the end of World War Two.
Merz-led conservative alliance of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU) had topped in the national elections in February with 28.5 percent of the vote, but it still required at least one coalition partner to form a majority government.
On Monday, the CDU/CSU reached an agreement with the SPD, which secured 16.4 percent in the elections after the collapse of Olaf Scholz’s government last year.
Their agreement has mapped out plans to revive growth, such as reducing corporate taxes and lowering energy prices. It is also promising strong support for Ukraine as it battles to repel Russia’s invasion, and higher military spending.
The new chancellor’s in-tray would also include the Trump administration’s confrontational trade policy and domestic issues, such as the rise of the far-right, anti-immigrant party Alternative for Germany (AfD).
Germany, the most populous member state of the 27-nation European Union, has the continent’s biggest economy and serves as a diplomatic heavyweight.
Merz failure to win backing for his chancellorship at the first attempt, something experts say is an embarrassment for a man who has promised to restore German leadership on the world stage.
“The whole of Europe looked to Berlin today in the hope that Germany would reassert itself as an anchor of stability and a pro-European powerhouse,” said Jana Puglierin, head of the Berlin office of the European Council on Foreign Relations think-tank. “That hope has been dashed. With consequences way beyond our borders.”
Party insiders said on Monday he would swiftly secure a majority despite grumbling in both coalition parties about cabinet nominations, policy compromises and a huge borrowing package pushed through the old parliament in its final days.
“This shows that the coalition is not united, which could weaken his ability to pursue policies,” said Holger Schmieding, Chief Economist at Berenberg in London.
The abrasive and erratic style of Merz, who has never held government office, has also failed to convince some that he is chancellor material.
“The relationship between the parties will be severely damaged because of this and [it will] exacerbate the conflicts that are already bubbling beneath the surface,” said Philipp Koeker, political scientist at the University of Hanover.
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