The German Parliament’s session was prepared to proclaim Friedrich Merz as a new chancellor after the recent coalition agreement between the conservatives and the Social Democratic Party (SPD). However, the result of the suffrage left a surprise never before seen in the lower house, which indicates directly due to betrayal of the Members of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) led by the German politician.
The secret vote of the deputies threw an unprecedented result: The main candidate obtained only 310 votes in favor, Six less than the 316 required To reach the call “Most of the Chancellor”. Against They voted 307 parliamentarianswhile there was A null vote and Three abstentionsof a total of 621 votes cast.
The sum of the CDU/CSU and SPD coalition seats Theoretically guaranteed Merz’s choice in the first round. However, at least 18 alliance deputies chose not to support the candidate conservative, an internal betrayal that has left evidence the fragility of the pact and the lack of cohesion in the government block.
An unprecedented fact in the Federal Republic
Never before a candidate for Foreign Minister had failed in the first vote after successful coalition negotiations, What makes this episode a historical and humiliating event for Merz and his party. The president of the lower house, Julia Klöckner, sHe used the session to give time consultations among parliamentary groups and announced that, according to the law, There will be a new vote within a maximum period of 14 days.
This fact stunned those present in the Reichstag building, as the current chancellor in the Olaf Scholz position, a member of the SPD, who denied the head absorbed after the results of the vote were known.
Merz, chosen chancellor in second vote
Finally, the Lower House of the German Parliament, the Bundestag, has chosen on Tuesday to the second attempt to the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Friedrich Merz, as a new chancellor, hours after what seemed like a mere procedure to come out with the first great parliamentary defeat of the new era.
The German Parliament resolve in this way the crossroads in which it was mired early in the daywhen for the first time in history a candidate for chancellor lost the initial vote to be proclaimed head of government-and have been 18 chosen since 1949-.
