Days after Germany’s outgoing government designated the main opposition party, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), as ‘extremist’, paving the way for a likely ban, Friedrich Merz failed to secure a majority for his Christian Conservative (CDU) party in the parliament.
Update: The second round was set for Wednesday, but the lawmakers went for a early vote to confirm Merz as chancellor. “Friedrich Merz has secured a majority in the second round of voting at the German Bundestag, averting a constitutional crisis,” Germany’s DW TV reported Monday afternoon.
Merz, who earlier this week signed a coalition deal with the left-wing Social Democrats (SPD), received 310 votes in a 630-member house, falling six short of the required absolute majority. In a secret ballot, at least 18 lawmakers from the conservative-socialist coalition failed to back him.
This is a historic debacle for Merz and his Christian-Conservative party. “Friedrich Merz failed in the first round of voting: When [speaker of the parliament] Julia Klöckner declared the result, there is deafening silence in the Bundestag,” German magazine Der Spiegel reported. “For the first time in history, Friedrich Merz, a designated chancellor, has failed in the first round of voting,” the weekly observed.
Reuters describes today’s vote as “an embarrassment for a man who has promised to restore German leadership on the world stage.”
Germany’s state-run DW TV reports:
Friedrich Merz has been dealt a major setback as he failed to garner the votes required to be chancellor in the first round of voting. (…)It wasn’t initially clear what will happen next, but a second vote was unlikely to be held on Tuesday.This is the first time such a thing has happened in Germany’s postwar history. (…)Merz won the backing of only 310 lawmakers, with 307 members voting against in a vote determined by a secret ballot.Three lawmakers abstained, with one invalid ballot, while nine lawmakers were absent.
The historic setback has tarnished Merz’s chancellorship even before it could begin. The right-wing AfD leads nationwide polls, signalling buyer’s remorse among conservative voters. AfD leader Alice Weidel has accused Merz of ‘election fraud’ for backing down on his campaign promise of closing Germany’s borders to illegal migrants.
“There was a prevailing mood of confusion in the parliament in the hours after the vote,” the BBC noted. “The historic nature of Merz’s failure will be difficult for him to move on untarnished. No candidate has failed in this way in the 76 years of Germany’s post-war republic.”
The Bundestag is expected to vote again on Wednesday. Merz has 14 days to prove his majority in the house, or the country may face new elections. If Merz fails, “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,” the France24 TV channel noted.
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