Friedrich Merz was chosen as Germany’s new chancellor on Tuesday following a victory in the second round of voting, mere hours after his historic failure to achieve a majority in the first ballot. His initial defeat was historic, representing the first time since post-war Germany that a candidate for chancellor had not achieved victory in the first round.
Surprising Setback in First Round
The rightist leader was expected to sail through and be Germany’s 10th post-World War II chancellor. In the second round, Merz received 325 votes out of 630, which was sufficient to secure a clean majority, while 289 voted against him. Although the initial loss, analysts still forecasted that Merz would be the chancellor. “Merz is likely to still get elected as chancellor in the end,” replied Berenberg Bank’s Holger Schmieding. “But even that would be a bad beginning with the unprecedented failure to get elected in the first round.”
With the defeat of Merz in the first ballot, AfD joint leader Alice Weidel stated that “Merz must stand aside and the road must be clear for a snap election,” after declaring the collapsed vote a “good day for Germany.” 69-year-old conservative leader is now at the helm of his CDU/CSU block coalition with outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).
EU President Ursula von der Leyen announced that she would cooperate with Merz towards a ‘strong’ Europe. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy congratulated the newly appointed chancellor and declared that he looks forward to ‘more German leadership’ in the West under Merz.
What If Friedrich Merz Had Lost?
If Friedrich Merz had lost the second-round election for the Chancellor, then the Bundestag (parliament of Germany) would have been given 14 days in which to vote for a candidate with an absolute majority. Merz might have stood again during this time, but other legislators might have also stood. There is no restriction on the number of votes that might be held within these two weeks. If a candidate had not received a majority, Germany’s president might have named the candidate with the most votes as Chancellor or dissolved the Bundestag, which would have resulted in a new national election.
Responses to Merz’s Win and Leadership Prospect
Merz’s biographer, Volker Resing, said that if Merz had secured the second round, the first-round defeat would be forgotten. But Alice Weidel, a co-leader of the far-right AfD party, castigated Merz’s failure as evidence that his coalition had a “weak foundation”. Even with the AfD’s good showing in February elections, they were not invited into coalition talks because of the historic “firewall” against far-right collaboration in German politics.
