bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Reuters

Friedrich Merz succeeded on Tuesday in his bid to become the next German chancellor during a second vote in parliament, hours after he suffered a historic defeat in the first round.
The conservative leader had been expected to smoothly win the vote to become Germany’s 10th chancellor since World War II. No other post-war candidate for chancellor has failed to win on the first ballot.
Merz received 325 votes in the second ballot.
He needed a majority of 316 out of 630 votes, but only received 310 in the first round – short of the 328 seats held by his coalition.
Because the votes were secret ballots, it was not immediately clear – and might never be known – who had defected from Merz’s camp.
Merz’s coalition is led by his centre-right Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union. They are joined by the centre-left Social Democrats led by outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who lost the national election in February.
Upon announcing the second vote, the head of the Union bloc in parliament, Jens Spahn, said, “The whole of Europe, perhaps even the whole world, is watching this second round of elections.”
Germany, the most populous member state of the 27-nation European Union, has the continent’s largest economy and serves as a diplomatic heavyweight. The new chancellor’s in-tray would include the war in Ukraine and the Trump administration’s confrontational trade policy on top of domestic issues, such as the rise of a far-right, anti-immigrant party.

If Merz had lost again
If Merz had failed to win election in the second round, the lower house of parliament – the Bundestag – would have had 14 days to elect a candidate with an absolute majority. Merz could have run repeatedly, but other lawmakers could also have thrown their hat in the ring. There is no limit to the number of votes that can be held within the two-week period.
If Merz or any other candidate had failed to secure a majority within those 14 days, the constitution allows for the president to appoint the candidate who wins the most votes as chancellor, or to dissolve the Bundestag and hold a new national election.
Merz’s biographer, Volker Resing, said that if Merz won in the second round, everything will be fine and people may soon forget about the first-round hiccup.
Alice Weidel, co-leader of the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party, slammed Merz’s failure as proof that his coalition has a “weak foundation” and called for fresh elections.
AfD is the largest opposition party in Germany’s new parliament after it placed second in February’s elections. Despite its historic gains, it was shut out of coalition talks due to the so-called “firewall” that mainstream German political parties have upheld against cooperating with far-right parties since the end of the war.

80th anniversary of World War II
Tuesday’s voting came on the eve of the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender in World War II. The ballots are cast in the restored Reichstag building, where graffiti left by victorious Soviet troops has been preserved at several locations.
The shadow of the war in Ukraine also loomed over Tuesday’s vote. Germany is the second-largest supplier of military aid to Ukraine, after the United States.
Overall, Germany is the fourth-largest defence spender in the world, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which studies trends in global military expenditures. Only the US, China and Russia are ahead.
Germany rose to that rank thanks to an investment of 100 billion euros (US$107 billion) for its armed forces, a measure passed by lawmakers in 2022.
Defence spending rose again earlier this year, when parliament loosened the nation’s strict debt rules. It’s a move that’s been closely watched by the rest of Europe, as the Trump administration has threatened to pull back from its security support on the continent.
Besides ramping up defence spending, Merz’s coalition has pledged to spur economic growth, take a tougher approach to migration and catch up on long-neglected modernisation.
Germany and the Trump administration
The US administration has bashed Germany repeatedly since President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January. Trump, who has German roots, often expressed his dislike of former Chancellor Angela Merkel during his first term in office.
This time around, Trump’s lieutenants are at the forefront – tech billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk has supported AfD for months. He hosted a chat with Weidel that he live-streamed on X earlier this year to amplify her party’s message.
Vice-President J.D. Vance, during the Munich Security Conference in February, assailed the “firewall” and later met with Weidel, a move that German officials heavily criticised.
Last week, the German domestic intelligence service said it had classified AfD as a “right-wing extremist” organisation, making it subject to greater and broader surveillance.
The decision by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution prompted blowback from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vance over the weekend. Germany’s Foreign Ministry hit back at Rubio after he called on the country to drop the classification.
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.

Germany’s economy
Germany’s economy has shrunk for the past two years and is forecast by the outgoing government to see zero growth this year. The stock market slid following the vote: the DAX, the index of major German companies, was down 1.8 per cent at one point.
The next government is expected to end months of paralysis and squabbling over government spending and economic policy that plagued outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition, and also add new impetus for growth with tax cuts and infrastructure spending.


Israel’s rising air defence sales become its ‘most potent’ foreign policy weapon

Europe’s ‘China shock’ and how political scientist Ivan Krastev sees its future

Burglary of JD.com warehouse in France prompts investigation, speculation

US hits 5 Europeans with visa bans in ‘censorship’ row

Germany

Merz elected German chancellor, hours after initial shock defeat

Friedrich Merz reacts as he receives his certificate of appointment from German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin, Germany on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (left) poses with his certificate of appointment signed by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin on Tuesday. Photo: AP

AfD leader Alice Weidel had called for fresh elections after Merz failed in his initial bid for the chancellorship. Photo: AP

Friedrich Merz walks through the ranks of the Bundestag during the election of the Chancellor. Photo: dpa

Germany’s Merz gets coalition deal, eyes reviving growth as global trade war looms

The deal caps weeks of haggling between chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz and the SPD after he topped elections in February but fell well short of a majority, with the far-right Alternative for Germany surging into second place. Photo: dpa

AfD sues German intelligence over ‘unlawful’ extremist label: ‘tyranny in disguise’

The AfD logo is seen at the election campaign launch in Halle, Germany, in January 2025 Photo: EPA-EFE

Alice Weidel, co-leader of the AfD speaks during the election party at the party’s headquarters in Berlin, Germany, February. Photo: AP

Germany labels AfD party as ‘extremist’, sparking diplomatic feud with US

AfD members take a selfie before the inaugural meeting of Germany’s lower house of parliament in Berlin on March 25. Photo: Reuters

AfD supporters take part in a rally in Berlin on February 22. Photo: Reuters

German firms in China count cost of rising US-China trade tensions

The Invest in China exhibition booth at the Hannover Messe 2025 industrial trade fair in Hannover, Germany, on March 31. Photo: Xinhua

The Volkswagen board member responsible for the company’s operations in China, Ralf Brandstaetter, speaks at a presentation on Tuesday ahead of the Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition. Photo: DPA

News

World

Europe

Friedrich Merz secures German chancellorship in second parliamentary vote, averting political crisis. His coalition now faces challenges like Ukraine and economic growth


Friedrich Merz secures German chancellorship in second parliamentary vote, averting political crisis. His coalition now faces challenges like Ukraine and economic growth.
