Germany’s Merz Bounces Back to Secure Majority in Chancellor Vote

Friedrich Merz of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) will be sworn in as Germany’s next chancellor after bouncing back from a historic defeat early Tuesday to secure a majority in the second round of parliamentary voting, the Associated Press reported. 

Merz needed only 316 votes out of 630 in the Bundestag, Germany’s lower house, for the win, and the CDU and its two coalition partners, the Christian Social Union (CSU) and center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) hold 328 seats. But Merz only received 310 votes in the first ballot, explained Politico, marking the first time since the end of World War Two that a candidate for chancellor failed to win on the first ballot after successful coalition talks.

He garnered 325 votes in the second round, and will be sworn in as chancellor by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. But the reasons for the flip-flop may never be clear because the vote is done by secret ballot, and analysts suggested that the first-round loss remains a major humiliation. One possibility is that members of the SPD initially voted against him to express displeasure over the coalition deal signed Monday. 

Germany’s new Europe Minister, Gunther Krichbaum, told the BBC that some members of the SPD had admitted they were not fully convinced by Merz. However, SPD officials insisted the party was fully committed to the coalition agreement. 

If Merz had lost again in the second round, by German law, the lower house of parliament would have had 14 days to elect a candidate with an absolute majority. While Merz could have run as many times as he wanted, others could also have entered the race, and an unlimited number of votes could have taken place in the following two weeks. 

If nobody secured a majority in the 14 days, the president could have appointed the candidate with the most votes or dissolved the Bundestag and called for new elections. 

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) – which came in second in the February election and is expected to become the main opposition party in parliament – took Merz’s initial failure as an opportunity to call for new elections, saying that the CDU and SPD coalition was built on shaky grounds. 

Merz has presented himself as a strong European leader after years of weak government under outgoing German Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose administration collapsed last year. 

Germany is Europe’s largest economy and a diplomatic heavyweight.  

The new chancellor will be faced with international challenges, such as the war in Ukraine and the US trade war, but also domestic issues, including the rise of the far-right and a stagnating economy, wrote the Washington Post.