A candidate for chancellor has never failed to win on the first ballot since the end of the war. Merz needed a majority of 316 out of 630 votes. He only received 310 votes – well short of the 328 seats held by his coalition.
Because the vote was held by secret ballot, it was not immediately clear – and might never be known – who had defected from Merz’s camp.
Merz’s coalition is led by his center-right Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union.
They are joined by the center-left Social Democrats, outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party. The parties were now to regroup to discuss the next step but it was also unclear how long the process could take.
Merz is seeking to take the helm of the 27-nation European Union’ s most populous member after Scholz’s government collapsed last year and a national election was held in February.
Scholz, despite his official farewell on Monday, remains in a caretaker role until a new chancellor takes over.
Germany has the continent’s biggest economy and serves as a diplomatic heavyweight. The new chancellor’s portfolio would include the war in Ukraine and the Trump administration’s trade policy on top of domestic issues, such as Germany’s stagnant economy and the rise of a far-right, anti-immigrant party.
The lower house of parliament – the Bundestag – has 14 days to elect a candidate with an absolute majority.
Merz can run again, but other lawmakers can also throw 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 fails to get that majority during the period of 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.
Volker Resing, who wrote the recent biography “Friedrich Merz: His Path to Power,” expressed surprise at the turn of events, something he said that “has never happened before” in post-war Germany.
“It shows how fragile the coalition’s situation is and that some lawmakers are prepared to spread uncertainty – that’s a warning signal,” Resing said after the vote.
Resing said that if Merz gets elected in the second round, then everything will be fine and people may soon forget about this hiccup. But “for now everything is wide open,” he added. (AP)
