GERMANY – The German chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz had been dealt a blow as he failed to secure the votes required to make him the chancellor on the first round of voting. He later won on the second round with a total of 325 votes, bringing him over the necessary 316 threshold.
Earlier in the First Round
In the secret ballot, 310 members of parliament voted for Merz, while 307 voted against him. Merz needed a simple majority of at least 316 votes to be elected chancellor but fell short of this threshold.
The first-round setback comes despite Merz’s conservative CDU/CSU alliance and its junior coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), having a comfortable majority of 328 seats in the Bundestag, surpassing the required 316-seat threshold.
During the vote, three prosecutors were abstained and one vote was invalid. Nine parliamentarians were absent due to illness or other reasons. Due to the secret ballot, it remained unclear how many inspectors from the parties coalition voted against Merz’s chancellorship and what their party affiliations were.
After the setback, party leaders met with their senior advisors to discuss the path forward. It was not immediately clear whether a second round of voting would take place later Tuesday or would be delayed until Friday.
AfD Leader Alice Weidel Calls on Merz to Resign
Co-chair of the right-wing Alternative for Germany party Alice Weidel has called on Merz to resign and a new election for the chancellor position to be held.
“We can only simply call for reason. Merz should simply resign and the way should be opened for new elections in our country,” she said.
She added that the AfD is ready to take the reigns.
Leader of Bavaria’s Christian Social Union (CSU), Markus Söder Mobilizes Parliamentarians
The leader of Bavaria’s Christian Social Union (CSU), Markus Söder has called on all parliamentarians to vote for Merz on the second round of voting.
He criticized the AfD comments after Merz failure, saying that “AfD’s derisive comments show that something is happening,” adding that all must “remain reasonable, remain calm, and remain cool.”
The German Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) officially signed a coalition agreement with the center-left SPD on Monday, following weeks of negotiations after the Feb. 23 elections. The Christian Democrats won the snap elections with 28.5% of the vote but fell short of an outright majority.
Though the Social Democrats recorded their lowest-ever result at 16.4%, they emerged as a crucial coalition partner for forming a stable government majority in the Bundestag (German Parliament).
