Friedrich Merz’s bid to become the next German chancellor succeeded during a second vote in parliament.
This came hours after he suffered a historic defeat in the first round.
Merz, a conservative leader, had been expected to smoothly win the vote to become Germany’s 10th chancellor since World War II.
No candidate for chancellor in postwar Germany has failed to win on the first ballot. During the voting, he got 325 votes in the second ballot.
He needed a majority of 316 out of 630 votes in a secret ballot but only received 310 votes in the first round — well short of the 328 seats held by his coalition.
There are indications that Merz is still in the lead to take the top job after the government of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz collapsed last year and a national election was held in February.
Despite his official farewell on Monday, Scholz remains in a caretaker capacity until a new chancellor takes over.
Merz’s coalition is led by his centre-right Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union.
They are joined by Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats.
