Update: Winning 325 votes in the second voting round, nine more than the 316 required for an absolute majority, Friedrich Merz has now been confirmed as the 10th German chancellor of the federal republic.
In a first for German politics, Chancellor-elect Friedrich Merz (CDU) has failed to secure the votes needed to become chancellor. What happens now?
After winning the February 23 election, swift coalition negotiations between the CDU/CSU and SPD, finalising a coalition agreement and appointing ministers, Tuesday’s vote was expected to be a formality.
But Friedrich Merz has fallen at one of the last hurdles, failing to secure enough votes from members of the new German parliament (Bundestag), which he needed to be officially elected chancellor.
The incoming CDU/CSU-SPD coalition, which Merz is set to lead, has 328 of the 621 seats in the new parliament. On Tuesday morning, 316 members of parliament needed to vote in favour of Merz taking up the chancellor role, but the Sauerland politician only secured 310 of the 316 majority he needed.
This means that 307 members of the new parliament voted against Merz taking up the role, including 18 members of his own coalition.
Merz’s loss is a first for German politics; never before has a politician won a federal election, successfully built a coalition and then failed to be elected chancellor.
However, Article 63 of the German constitution (Grundgesetz) outlines which steps should be taken in such a situation. According to the Bundestag, “If the candidate fails to secure an absolute majority in the first round of voting, a second round is held.”
If Merz also fails to secure the support he needs in this second round, “the Bundestag then has 14 days to elect another candidate to be Chancellor. There is no limit to the number of possible ballots, although an absolute majority is always required.”
In the second round, others can take their shot at being elected chancellor, but everyone is required to win the 316-vote majority to be successful. If all candidates repeatedly fail to win this majority, the necessary result for a successful election will be changed from an absolute majority to a simple majority.
If the 14 days are up and nobody has secured a successful result, a new chancellorship election must be held immediately. “The person who receives the largest number of votes (relative majority) is then elected to be Chancellor," according to the Bundestag.
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