Centre-right CDU leader Friedrich Merz unexpectedly failed to be elected German Chancellor in the first round of voting in the Bundestag on Tuesday, Belga News Agency reports.
The conservative leader received 310 votes in the 630-seat parliament, six votes short of the required majority. A total of 621 members of parliament voted.
Following the surprising result, the Bundestag president suspended the session. This is a first in German parliamentary history: never before has a designated chancellor failed to be elected by the Bundestag after parliamentary elections and successful coalition negotiations.
The unexpected result is a humiliation for Merz, whose new coalition – consisting of the Christian Democrats (CDU), the Bavarian sister party CSU, and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) – holds 328 seats in the Bundestag. This means that members of the coalition voted against Merz.
As the votes are cast anonymously, it is not clear who they were. A total of 310 members of parliament voted in favour, 307 against, there were three abstentions and one invalid vote.
If Merz does not obtain an absolute majority in the first two rounds of voting, a relative majority will suffice in a third round. This means that the person who receives the most votes will be elected chancellor.
According to the BBC, not everyone in the SPD is happy with the coalition deal. However, the historic nature of Merz's failure will be difficult for him to overcome – no candidate has failed to achieve a majority since 1949.
The far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) has called for new legislative elections. AfD came second in the 23 February elections and is currently polling on par with the conservatives.
