Friedrich Merz wins on second ballot to become Germany’s chancellor, hours after his historic defeat

By STEFANIE DAZIO and KIRSTEN GRIESHABER Associated Press BERLIN AP Friedrich Merz succeeded Tuesday in his bid to become the next German chancellor during a second vote in parliament hours after he suffered a historic defeat in the first round The conservative leader had been expected to smoothly win the vote to become Germany s th chancellor since World War II No other postwar candidate for chancellor has failed to win on the first ballot Merz received votes in the second ballot Lawmakers wait for the beginning of a session were Friedrich Merz is supposed to be elected new chancellor at the parliament Bundestag in Berlin Tuesday May AP Photo Markus Schreiber He needed a majority of out of votes but only received in the first round well short of the seats held by his coalition Because the votes were secret ballots it was not at once clear and might never be known who had defected from Merz s camp Merz s coalition is led by his center-right Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union They are joined by the center-left Social Democrats led by outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz who lost the national voting process in February Upon announcing the second vote the head of the Union bloc in parliament Jens Spahn noted The whole of Europe perhaps even the whole world is watching this second round of elections Germany the largest part populous member state of the -nation European Union has the continent s biggest market system and serves as a diplomatic heavyweight The new chancellor s in-tray would include the war in Ukraine and the Trump administration s confrontational bargain framework on top of domestic issues such as the rise of a far-right anti-immigrant party If Merz had lost again If Merz had failed to win voting process in the second round the lower house of parliament the Bundestag would have had days to elect a candidate with an absolute majority Merz could have run repeatedly but other lawmakers could also have thrown their hat in the ring There is no limit to the number of votes that can be held within the two-week period Friedrich Merz right talks to outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the parliament Bundestag in Berlin Tuesday May AP Photo Ebrahim Noroozi If Merz or any other candidate had failed to secure a majority within those days the constitution allows for the president to appoint the candidate who wins the most of votes as chancellor or to dissolve the Bundestag and hold a new national referendum Merz s biographer Volker Resing declared that if Merz won in the second round everything will be fine and people may soon forget about the first-round hiccup Alice Weidel co-leader of the far-right anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party slammed Merz s failure as proof that his coalition has a weak foundation and called for fresh elections AfD is the biggest opposition party in Germany s new parliament after it placed second in February s elections Despite its historic gains it was shut out of coalition talks due to the so-called firewall that mainstream German political parties have upheld against cooperating with far-right parties since the end of the war th anniversary of World War II Tuesday s voting came on the eve of the th anniversary of Nazi Germany s unconditional surrender in World War II The ballots are cast in the restored Reichstag building where graffiti left by victorious Soviet troops has been preserved at several locations The shadow of the war in Ukraine also loomed over Tuesday s vote Germany is the second-biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine after the United States Overall Germany is the fourth largest defense spender in the world according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute which studies trends in global military expenditures Only the U S China and Russia are ahead Germany rose to that rank thanks to an financing of billion euros billion for its armed forces a measure passed by lawmakers in Defense spending rose again earlier this year when parliament loosened the nation s strict debt rules It s a move that s been closely watched by the rest of Europe as the Trump administration has threatened to pull back from its shield patronage on the continent Besides ramping up defense spending Merz s coalition has pledged to spur economic rise take a tougher approach to migration and catch up on long-neglected modernization Germany and the Trump administration The U S administration has bashed Germany repeatedly since President Donald Trump s inauguration in January Trump who has German roots often expressed his dislike of former Chancellor Angela Merkel during his first term in office This time around Trump s lieutenants are at the forefront tech billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk has supported AfD for months He hosted a chat with Weidel that he livestreamed on X earlier this year to amplify her party s message Vice President JD Vance during the Munich Precaution Conference in February assailed the firewall and later met with Weidel a move that German administrators heavily criticized Last week the German domestic intelligence organization revealed it has classified AfD as a right-wing extremist organization making it subject to greater and broader surveillance The decision by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution prompted blowback from U S Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vance over the weekend Germany s Foreign Ministry hit back at Rubio after he called on the country to drop the classification The domestic intelligence function s measure does not amount to a ban of the party which can only take place through a request by either of parliament s two chambers or the federal establishment through the Federal Constitutional Court Merz has not commented publicly on the intelligence organization s decision Germany s business activity Germany s financial system has shrunk for the past two years and is forecast by the outgoing ruling body to see zero advancement this year The stock sector slid following the vote the DAX the index of major German companies was down at one point The next ruling body is expected to end months of paralysis and squabbling over ruling body spending and economic program that plagued outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz s coalition and also add new impetus for advancement with tax cuts and infrastructure spending Associated Press videojournalist Fanny Brodersen in Berlin and writer David McHugh in Frankfurt Germany contributed to this summary