Conservative (CDU/CSU) leader Friedrich Merz failed to win enough votes to be elected Chancellor in the first round of voting on Tuesday, the 6th of April, causing a major shock, according to Politico.
“Friedrich Merz did not achieve the required majority of at least 316 votes,” Bundestag President Julia Klöckner said after the first Bundestag vote in a very unexpected turn of events.
MERZ RECEIVED 310 VOTES. MERZ FELL SIX VOTES SHORT OF BEING ELECTED BY A MAJORITY OF GERMANY’S 630 MEPS.
Klöckner suspended the Bundestag. The parliamentary groups were now convened. It is not yet known when the second vote will take place, but the German media, citing representatives of the parliamentary groups, report that it is expected this week.
German law requires the second vote to take place within 14 days.
In the February elections, Merz’s conservatives won 28.5% of the vote but needed at least one partner to form a majority government. On Monday they signed a coalition agreement with the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). With 52% of the seats, his coalition wins one of the smallest parliamentary majorities since the Second World War.
After the vote, parliamentarians seemed surprised by the results. This is the first time in Germany’s post-war history that a potential Chancellor has not been elected after successful coalition negotiations.
This failure – even if he eventually succeeds in the second round of voting – marks a major embarrassment and failure for the potential Chancellor.
Merz has repeatedly promised to take a strong lead in Europe after years of weak and divided government under outgoing SPD Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Merz was due to travel to Paris and Warsaw on Wednesday to discuss a European defence strategy. This trip is now unlikely to take place.
Members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which will become the largest opposition party in Parliament, seized the opportunity to attack Merz.
“Merz is damaged, whatever happens in the future,” said Bernd Baumann, leader of the AfD parliamentary group on Tuesday.