Friedrich Merz fails to be elected chancellor in the first round by the deputies

The Conservative Friedrich Merz failed this Tuesday, to everyone’s surprise, to be elected German Chancellor in the first round by the deputies, when he could on paper have a sufficient majority of the elected officials of his camp and the social democrats with whom he intends to govern in coalition.

Friedrich Merz only obtained 310 votes out of 621 expressed and 630 deputies in total, announced the president of the Bundestag. It would have taken him 316 to be elected. Never in the post-war history of the Federal Republic of Germany A Chancellor candidate thus failed to be elected in the first round.

Disputed in a part of his own camp

Friedrich Merz will now submit to a second voting round, after which, if he did not get an absolute majority again, a relative majority of deputies would be sufficient.

It is a false departure for the winner of the February legislative elections, expected with hope in Europe and which ensures that “Germany is again on the rails”.

It illustrates its immediately fragile political position. It is not very Popular in opinion and disputed in part of its own conservative camp for recently softening the very strict national rules in terms of public deficit, in order to be able to finance its program of national reset and modernization of the country.

“Not received,” said the Popular Bild newspaper immediately, comparing him to a student going. In the new Bundestag, conservatives and social democrats have a total of 328 votes. But the head of the Christian Democrat Union (CDU) did not refuel in these two camps, which had sealed their government coalition agreement on Monday.

If Friedrich Merz obtains the relative majority, he will be in the confirmed stride 10th Chancellor of modern Germany by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who will receive him at the presidential palace of Bellevue.