Merz Fails to Clear First Vote to Become German Chancellor
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Friedrich Merz suffered a shock setback when he fell short of a majority in a parliamentary vote to confirm him as Germany’s next chancellor, preventing his swearing in on Tuesday and pitching Europe’s biggest economy into uncharted territory.
While the conservative leader is still expected to take charge of a ruling coalition of his CDU/CSU bloc and the Social Democrats, it was the first time since World War II that an incoming chancellor failed to secure backing from lawmakers in the first round of voting in the Bundestag and triggered chaos in Berlin’s government quarter.