The German Parliament has elected Friedrich Merz as the new Chancellor of Germany on his second attempt. The leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU), who won the elections, was elected after failing to secure the required number of votes in the first round.
The live broadcast of the session is available on the Bundestag website. The day before, Merz announced that the CDU/CSU and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) had signed a coalition agreement to form a new government.
Today, the Bundestag held the chancellor election, where Merz became the first candidate in the history of the republic to fail in the first round, receiving only 310 out of the 316 votes needed.
The Chancellor of Germany is elected by the Bundestag after the president proposes a candidate. Members vote in secret without prior discussions. To win in the first round, a candidate must secure an absolute majority, meaning at least 316 out of the 630 votes in the current Bundestag. If no candidate achieves a majority in the first two rounds, an absolute majority is not required in the third round, where only a relative majority suffices.
Early parliamentary elections were held in Germany on February 23. The CDU/CSU bloc emerged victorious, while the Alternative for Germany (AfD) came second with a record 20.8% of the vote. The SPD received 16.4%, marking the worst result in the party’s history. The Greens (11.6%), The Left (8.8%), and the Danish-Slesvig minority party “South Schleswig Voters’ Union,” which secured one seat, also entered Parliament.
