 "Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party leader Friedrich Merz speaks at the party headquarters in Berlin, Germany. File image/ Reuters")
Friedrich Merz on Tuesday failed to win the majority vote in the German parliament to become the country’s chancellor.
It has happened for the first time in Germany’s history that a leader of the victorious coalition has failed to win majority to become chancellor in the first attempt.
Merz, the leader of Christian Democratic Union (CDU), had entered into an alliance with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to stake claim to chancellorship. Between them, the two parties have 328 of the parliament’s 630 seats — above the majority mark of 316.
Despite the coalition having the majority, only 310 votes were cast in favour of Merz, which means that 18 members of the coalition broke ranks. The junior partner SDP has said the fault did not lie with it as all of its members voted with the party line.
What happens now?
The parliamentary vote will now go into a second vote. Merz is likely stand again as the CDU-SDP coalition’s chancellor candidate. The parliament has 14 days to hold a second vote. Media reports have said that the second round of voting is unlikely to be held today.
If the second round also fails to produce a winner, the vote goes into the third round in which whoever receives most votes —irrespective of whether they have attained parliamentary majority— will be elected chancellor, according to the German chancellery’s website.
Alternatively, after the third round of the vote, the German president will also have the option of dissolving the parliament and calling for fresh elections.
However, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is unlikely to call for fresh elections. He belongs to Merz’s coalition partner SDP and is unlikely to call elections that could prop far-right, neo-Nazi Alternative for Germany (AfD) as the single-largest party — surveys have shown that AfD has made gains since the elections at the cost of CDU-SDP bloc.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsA shot in the arm for AfD
Merz’s failure is set to be a shot in the arm for AfD. The party does not just have considerable support in Germany but also has the endorsement of the Donald Trump administration of the United States , which has gone to the length of sparring with the German government to champion the cause of AfD.
AfD leader Alice Weidel has said that Merz should now step aside and has called for fresh elections.
“As the AfD, we set out to turn this country from its head back onto its feet. We are ready to take on government responsibility. And we call for reason to prevail. Mr Merz should resign immediately. The path should be opened for new elections in our country!” said Weidel.