Merz becomes German chancellor in second Bundestag vote

BERLIN — Friedrich Merz will be German chancellor after winning a vote in the Bundestag Tuesday afternoon, following an embarrassing initial failure that plunged Berlin into political turmoil.

The conservative leader, who was badly damaged by the unprecedented failure to secure the chancellorship in a first vote earlier in the day, secured 325 votes in the dramatic second round — above the 316 needed to win.

After the vote, Merz appeared visibly relieved.

“Madam President, I thank you for your trust and I accept the election,” Merz told the president of the Bundestag, Julia Klöckner, as his conservatives applauded enthusiastically. Olaf Scholz, the outgoing chancellor, immediately congratulated Merz with a handshake.

The 69-year-old now takes the helm of a fragile coalition consisting of his conservative bloc and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). The coalition will hold one of the slimmest parliamentary majorities since World War II, with just 52 percent of seats.

The events earlier in the day were an unmistakable sign of Merz’s weakness as he begins his chancellorship. Before Tuesday, no presumed German chancellor had failed to be voted through by the Bundestag after striking a coalition agreement. Surveys show Merz’s approval ratings have plummeted since he won the Feb. 23 election, and his conservatives have slipped in polls.

The quick second vote was possible only after four factions — including the Greens and the Left — agreed to bypass lengthy procedures, allowing the parliament to reconvene just hours after the shock failure.

Lawmakers attributed Merz’s initial defeat to quiet dissenters within the coalition in a secret ballot.

“I suspect that there have been some dissenters in both groups, perhaps more in one than in the other,” Serap Güler, a senior lawmaker in Merz’s conservative bloc, said. “I hope that in the last few hours, our colleagues have had the opportunity to reflect, because this is not about personal sensitivities, this is about the future of our country.”

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is now the largest opposition party following a second-place finish in the Feb. 23 national election, immediately attacked Merz after the initial vote.

“This is a historic defeat, the likes of which has never been seen before in this Bundestag,” the AfD’s parliamentary group leader, Bernd Baumann, said ahead of the second vote. “Your own MPs are refusing to support you, and it’s no wonder,” he went on given what he called Merz’s “broken election promises.”

Given the growing weakness of Germany’s centrist parties, events such as those today may become more common in the country’s once staid, predictable politics.

“These are times of dwindling certainty, not only as far as important political decisions are concerned, but also with regard to majorities,” political scientist Karl-Rudolf Korte said on German public television.

Merz started out in politics as a member of the European Parliament in 1989. He left politics in the early 2000s after losing a power struggle with the more centrist Angela Merkel. He spent a decade in the private sector before returning to politics in 2018 when Merkel stepped down as party leader.