Germany’s Merz confirmed as chancellor in second parliamentary vote after first round shock defeat

Friedrich Merz has been confirmed as the new chancellor of Germany after a second vote in the country’s parliament – hours after failing six votes short at the first attempt in an unprecedented and humiliating defeat.

The 69-yerar-old had been expected to smoothly win the vote to become Germany’s 10th chancellor since the Second World War No other postwar candidate for chancellor has failed to win on the first of the secret ballots in a significant blow to his prestige.

Mr Merz who led his conservatives to a federal election victory in February and signed a coalition deal with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), won just 310 votes in the Bundestag in the first vote in the morning, six short of an absolute majority. At least 18 coalition legislators failed to back him, although the secret nature of the ballot means it may never be known whether it was members of his centre-right Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, or members of the SPD that voted against him. Not everybody in the SDP is happy with the coalition deal that has been signed.

Mr Merz received 325 votes in the second ballot in the afternoon, still short of the 328 members of the coalition. Upon announcing the second vote, the head of the Union bloc in parliament, Jens Spahn, said, “The whole of Europe, perhaps even the whole world, is watching this second round of elections.”

Germany has the EU’s biggest economy and serves as a diplomatic heavyweight. The new chancellor’s portfolio would include the war in Ukraine and the trade policy of Donald Trump’s US administration, on top of domestic issues, such as Germany’s stagnant economy and the rise of the far-right, anti-immigrant party Alternative for Germany (AfD).

The AfD is the biggest opposition party in Germany’s new parliament after it placed second in February. Despite its historic gains, it was shut out of coalition talks due to the so-called “firewall” that mainstream German political parties have upheld against cooperating with far-right parties since the end of the war. The AfD was classified as a “right-wing extremist effort” by the country’s domestic intelligence agency last week.

Alice Weidel, co-leader of the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party, had tried to take advantage of the parliamentary vote debacle by slamming Mr Merz’s failure in the first ballot as proof that his coalition has a “weak foundation.” She called for Mr Merz to resign immediately and for new elections to be held.

“Merz failed to secure a majority because he had to abandon large parts of his own campaign platform in order to buy the SPD’s support. In doing so, he disappointed parts of his own party while still not conceding enough to satisfy the SPD, AfD spokesperson Torben Braga told The Independent.

Mr Merz is due to travel to Paris and Warsaw on Wednesday to discuss European defence strategy.