Updated May 7, 2025 at 12:30 PM EDT
BERLIN — Friedrich Merz won lawmakers' approval to become the next German chancellor on Tuesday in a second vote in parliament, hours after an unprecedented defeat in the first round.
The conservative politician had been expected to easily win confirmation to become Germany's 10th chancellor since World War II, but initially fell six votes short. Merz then received 325 votes in the second round — enough to win.
No other postwar candidate for chancellor has failed to win on the first ballot.
The setback was a major embarrassment for the leader of Merz's center-right Christian Democratic Union of Germany party, less than three months after winning the most votes in the federal election. The CDU and its Bavarian partner, the Christian Social Union party, later signed a coalition agreement with the center-left Social Democratic Party on Monday.
Prior to Tuesday's vote, Merz, who aims to restore Germany's economy, military and its status in Europe, had already turned heads by steering a law that exempted defense and security from the country's strict debt rules through parliament.
The move enabled the government to significantly increase the military budget, so that it could help defend Ukraine and itself in the future. It was a bold — and for Germany — swift move that showed Merz's leadership weeks before he was set to become chancellor.
Tuesday's failed first-round vote, though, was a sign of the obstacles Merz could face as chancellor. Another is the increasing popularity of the Alternative for Germany, known by its German initials AfD, a far-right, anti-immigration party with close ties to Russia that came in second place in February's federal election, earning more than a fifth of all votes.
The AfD was declared an "extremist" group by Germany's Office for the Protection of the Constitution, enabling domestic intelligence to monitor the party as a threat to Germany's democracy. The AfD has sued the office responsible for making the designation.
AfD's presence in the opposition in parliament could make it difficult for the coalition government to carry out its agenda.
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