Friedrich Merz has won a vote to become the chancellor of Germany just hours after failing at the first attempt to form a coalition.
The 69-year-old leader of the Conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won an absolute majority with the help of the centre-left Social Democrat Party (SPD).
The result will be a relief for Mr Merz after he failed to gather the support needed to form a coalition in the first vote this morning.
Appearing shocked on Tuesday morning after the results were read out, the CDU leader immediately began discussions with colleagues in the Bundestag to expedite a second vote.
The conservative leader needed 316 votes in the 630-seat Bundestag to form a majority in parliament.
While he unexpectedly fell six seats short this morning, meaning 18 members of Mr Merz’s intended governing majority failed to vote for him, he managed to secure 325 votes during a vote at 3.15pm local time.
SPD co-leader Lars Klingbeil said during the interim between the first and second vote that he assumed “the necessary majority will now be there” to secure a positive outcome, though party insiders were similarly optimistic ahead of the first vote.
Opposition party Alternative for Germany (AfD) seized on the initial debacle, with its co-leader Alice Weidel slamming Mr Merz’s failure as proof that his coalition has a “weak foundation.”
After the collapse of the previous SPD-led coalition late last year, Mr Merz had hoped to start his own government from a position of strength.
The ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, US President Donald Trump’s tariff action against Europe, a struggling economy and the rise of the far-right in Germany had brought into sharp relief the need for a stable government.
This is a breaking news story. More follows…
