Germany’s Merz shoots more than the majority in voice for Chancellor

The conservative leader of Germany is unexpectedly short of the figures needed to form a majority in parliament to become Chancellor.

Friedrich Merz needed 316 votes in the Bundestag with 630 seats, but only 310, in an important blow to the Christian Democratic leader, two and a half months after winning the federal elections of Germany.

His coalition with the center links has enough seats in parliament, but it seems like 18 members of parliament that were expected to support him. Merz’s failure in the first mood is seen as unprecedented in modern German history.

The Bundestag will now have 14 days to choose Merz or another candidate as Chancellor.

According to the Constitution of Germany, there is no limit how many votes can be kept, but ultimately if no absolute majority is reached, a candidate can be chosen without a chosen.

No further votes were expected until at least Wednesday, although the Bundestag (10:00 GMT) would again come into accordance with a prevailing mood of confusion.

The defeat of Merz is seen by political commentators as a humiliation, probably inflicted by members of the Social Democrat SPD, who treated a coalitia treated with his conservatives on Monday.

Not everyone in the SPD is happy with the deal, but the historical nature of Merz failure will be difficult for him to continue. Since 1949, no candidate has failed in this way.

The shame of Tuesday’s vote undermines Merz’s hope to be a antidote for the weakness and the distribution of the last government, which collapsed at the end of last year.

Extreme right-wing party alternative for Germany that came in second in the February elections with 20.8% of the votes seized in the event of his failure. Joint leader Alice Weidel wrote on X that the vote demonstrated: “The weak base The small coalition was built between the (conservatives) and SPD, which was rejected by voters”.

Germany’s government transfer is carefully choreographed. On the eve of Monday’s vote, the departing Chancellor Olaf Scholz was treated to a traditional large tattoo by an orchestra of the armed forces.

From Merz, 69, it was expected that he would win the mood and then visit President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to be sworn in and to fulfill a long-term ambition to become a German Chancellor.

His rival and former Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel had come to the Bundestag to see how the mood takes place.

Merz’s immediate decision will now be to decide with his coalition partners whether he should insist on a second vote and to take the risk of failing again.

His defeat is in danger of causing splits within the coalition.

Political correspondents in the Bundestag said that the failure to support Merz indicated that even if the coalition finally came to power, there was a potential problem lurking in his ranks.

Less than 24 hours earlier, the messages had been very different, with Germany brought political paralysis to an end for six months.

“It is our historic duty to make this government a success,” Merz said, signing the coalition document.

Although a narrow majority of 12 seats, the agreement between the conservatives and the middle left was seen as much more stable than the so -called traffic light coalition of three parties that fell apart last November about the expenditure for debts.

The SPD, which had been the largest party in the old coalition, dropped to his worst post -war election result in third place, but Merz had promised that Germany was back and that he would stimulate his voice on the world stage and revive a flag economy.

After two years of recession, the largest economy in Europe grew in the first three months of 2025. However, economists warned about potential risks of German exports for rates imposed by the US.

The German service sector was contracted last month due to weaker demand and lower consumer expenditure.