Friedrich Merz’s torture seems to have no end. At 69, the President of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who has coveted the Chancellery for over twenty years, had to wait a few more hours to see her dream come true. Tuesday, May 6, his election to the Bundestag, which should have taken place without a hitch, almost turned into a nightmare. It was only in the second round, and at the end of a trying day full of twists and turns, that he ended up gathering the majority necessary to be formally elected Chancellor, with a majority of 325 votes out of a total of 630 deputies.
Nothing went as planned. The ballot, scheduled for Tuesday at 9 am, at the Bundestag, should have been a pure formality. Confident, the future chancellor had brought his native sauerland (Rhinenania-du-Nord-Westphalie), by car, a ten-liter barrel of blonde beer to celebrate his appointment the same evening to the Chancellery, as revealed by the daily life Bild in the morning.
When the session opens, all the members of his future government are there, sitting in the stands, right next to that of the Social Democratic Chancellor (SPD) outgoing, Olaf Scholz, who expects to become a simple deputy a few minutes later. We also see the former Chancellor Angela Merkel, pale yellow jacket, historic rival of Friedrich Merz, who came to the show, as well as Charlotte Merz, the discreet wife of the future Chancellor, present to almost all her trips. The course of the day is millimeter: after the vote, Friedrich Merz must go to the Château de Bellevue to receive his act of appointment from the hands of President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, before returning to the hemicycle to take an oath.
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