The Lower House of the German Parliament, the Bundestag, elected on Tuesday on the second attempt the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Friedrich Merz, as the new chancellor, hours after what seemed like a mere formality ended in the first major parliamentary defeat of the new era.
PUBLICIDAD
The German Parliament resolved the dilemma it found itself in early in the day, when for the first time in history, a candidate for chancellor lost the initial vote to be declared head of government.
PUBLICIDAD
How were the elections to choose a new chancellor in Germany?
In the first vote, only 310 parliamentarians voted “yes”, below the 316 required for an absolute majority and far from the 328 seats held by the coalition of the CDU, the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Social Democratic Party (SPD). In the second attempt, Merz obtained 325 endorsements, according to the results announced by the president of the Bundestag, Julia Klockner.
“I thank you for your trust and accept the election,” Merz said in response to Klockner’s question, amid applause from a Chamber that breathes a sigh of relief after facing an uncertain scenario that forced a hasty review of the deadlines and protocols outlined within the Basic Law (Constitution) for the appointment of the chancellor.
Then Merz was officially appointed to his position by the president of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, at the Bellevue Palace in Berlin, which also implies the end of the political mandate of the Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, who was present at the session on Tuesday as a regular member of parliament.
The one who did not attend the afternoon vote was former Chancellor Angela Merkel, who did witness from the guest gallery the initial failure of her former rival within the CDU.
The far right opposes the new coalition
The parties called to govern have launched successive arguments in favor of a common front, while the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD), second in the legislative elections of February, took advantage of the initial fiasco to warn that the current coalition is born weakened.
One of the members of the AfD parliamentary group, Bernd Baumann, warned in the afternoon session that the initial “historic defeat” implies that “this government starts in a very unstable way.”