Bundestag elects CDU's Friedrich Merz as new German chancellor in repeat vote

Alsharq Tribune- Mohamed Otaify 

Friedrich Merz has been confirmed as Germany's chancellor in a successful second vote after he unexpectedly lost an initial round to elect him to the position.

Merz won 325 votes in favour — higher than the 316 required.

The successful vote comes after the scheduled parliamentary session was thrown into chaos when he narrowly lost the first round of voting.

Merz secured 310 votes in the first round — six votes less than what was needed to secure a majority in the Bundestag.

His initial loss on Tuesday marks the first time in the federal republic's history that an incoming chancellor has failed to secure the majority of votes after winning an election and securing a successful coalition agreement.

It was also a bitter personal disappointment for Merz, who made it clear that he expected to easily secure a majority in parliament, given that his CDU and its coalition partners, the centre-left SPD, have 328 seats in parliament combined.

After several hours of chaos and confusion in Germany's Bundestag, CDU parliamentary group leader Jens Spahn announced that a second vote would take place later in the day.

"All of Europe, perhaps the entire world” is watching the vote, Spahn said as he appealed to lawmakers to back the coalition's mandate

There were no limits to the number of possible votes that could have taken place if Merz failed the second round — but multiple nos would have marked a devastating political failure for the politician who vowed to lead Germany out of six months of political gridlock.

It is still unclear who in the secret ballot did not support his bid to the chancellery, although given the vote it is apparent some dissenters come from within the CDU or SPD.

Not every member of the SPD was happy with the coalition agreement between the two parties, despite it being agreed upon by a large majority of the party base — 84%.

However, SPD leader Lars Klingbeil told broadcaster Welt after the vote that there were no indications of apostates within his party's ranks, which, if true, would mean that Merz faced opposition from within the CDU itself.

After the first vote on Tuesday, the AfD, the second-largest party in the Bundestag, called for Merz to step down and for new elections to be called right away.