Friedrich Merz, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader, initially missed the required 316 votes in an earlier ballot.
Friedrich Merz has been elected German chancellor in a second Bundestag vote held on Tuesday. Earlier in the day, the CDU leader was six votes short of the 316 needed but secured 325 votes hours later, after rallying support from conservatives and allies in parliament.
This situation is unprecedented in post-war Germany, as no previous chancellor candidate with a coalition agreement had failed the initial Bundestag vote.
Merz faced opposition from 289 MPs, primarily from the Left and Green parties, who voted against the 69-year-old.
The second vote was called after four factions agreed to expedite parliamentary procedures. Politico reports that urgent, private meetings occurred between the votes.
Before the second vote, CDU/CSU parliamentary group leader Jens Spahn told lawmakers that “all of Europe, perhaps even the entire world, is watching this second round of voting.”
“I appeal to everyone to be aware of this special responsibility,” he stated, according to ARD.
Following Merz’s initial failure, Bernd Baumann, a leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) faction, commented: “Mr. Merz, you have failed. This is a historic defeat, the likes of which have never been seen in this Bundestag before.”
Green Party politician Renate Kuenast, as quoted by ZDF, spoke of a “massive loss of authority” for the incoming chancellor.
Left Party parliamentary leader Christian Goerke described the situation as a “crushing defeat” for Merz, blaming it on a “truly poor coalition agreement [between the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats] that fails to address the major problems facing this country.”
The previous SPD-led three-way ruling coalition collapsed last November due to internal disagreements over spending. The new CDU-SPD coalition has committed to continuing key aspects of former Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s agenda, including support for Ukraine and utilizing a constitutional debt brake to further increase the military budget.
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