Tuesday’s vote was held on the eve of the 80th anniversary of Germany’s unconditional surrender in World War II. The ballots are secret and cast in the restored Reichstag, where graffiti left by Soviet troops has been preserved at several locations in the building.
Merz’s failure in the voting adds to the challenges ahead – whoever is elected chancellor will face questions about the future of the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. Mainstream German political parties refuse to work with it, citing the so-called “firewall” they’ve upheld against co-operating with far-right parties since the end of the war.
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AfD’s rise
Last week, the German domestic intelligence service classified AfD – which placed second in national elections in February – as a “right-wing extremist” organisation, making it subject to greater and broader surveillance.
Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution described the party as a threat to the country’s democratic order, saying it “disregards human dignity” – in particular by what it called “ongoing agitation” against refugees and migrants.
The federal office’s decision prompted blowback from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Vice President J.D. Vance over the weekend. Germany’s Foreign Ministry hit back at Rubio after he called on the country to undo the classification.
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The domestic intelligence service’s measure does not amount to a ban of the party, which can only take place through a request by either of parliament’s two chambers or the federal government through the Federal Constitutional Court.
Merz has not commented publicly on the intelligence service’s decision.
The new coalition
Germany’s new coalition is led by Merz’s centre-right Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, and joined by the centre-left Social Democrats, Scholz’s party. All three parties previously approved the coalition deal.
The coalition aims to spur economic growth, ramp up defence spending, take a tougher approach to migration and catch up on long-neglected modernisation.
The Union and Social Democrats have governed Germany together before, in the 1960s, and then in three of the four terms of former Chancellor Angela Merkel, who led the country from 2005 to 2021.
Merz’s party last month announced its proposed government team, including senior lawmaker Johann Wadephul as foreign minister – a position the CDU last held in the 1960s.
