Friedrich Merz on Tuesday succeeded in his bid to become the next German Chancellor after a second vote in parliament, as he had lost the first ballot, reported Associated Press.
The conservative leader who became Germany’s 10th Chancellor, became the first post-war candidate who had failed to win on the initial ballot, requiring a second round of voting in Parliament.
Merz received 325 votes in the second ballot. He needed a majority of 316 out of 630 votes but only received 310 in the first round, while his coalition held 328 votes.
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Because the votes were secret ballots, it was not immediately clear who might have defected from his coalition.
The coalition set to form government is led by Merz’s party, the centre-right Christian Democratic Union, and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union.
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They were also joined by the center-left Social Democrats led by outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who lost the national election in February.
What would happen if Merz failed the second vote?
If Friedrich Merz had failed to win the election in the second round, the lower house of parliament — known as the Bundestag — would have had 14 days to elect a candidate with an absolute majority.
Within this two-week period, other politicians could also put themselves forward as candidates along with Merz, if he had not secured the vote a second time.
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If Merz did not manage to secure the vote within the allotted 14 days, the German constitution allows for the president to appoint the candidate who wins the most votes as chancellor, or to dissolve the Bundestag and hold a fresh national election.
Alice Weidel, co-leader of the far-right, Alternative for Germany party (AfD), has called for a fresh election stating that Merz’s coalition had a “weak foundation.”
AfD is the biggest opposition party in Germany’s new parliament after it placed second in February’s elections. However, they were shut out of the coalition due to their far-right agenda.
