German Elections

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 10th chancellor since World War II. No candidate for chancellor in postwar Germany has failed to win on the first ballot. Merz received 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.

German lawmakers are set to vote on the next chancellor again on Tuesday afternoon, hours after Friedrich Merz failed to win the first round in parliament in a historic defeat. Merz, the conservative leader, had been expected to smoothly win the vote to become Germany's 10th chancellor since World War II. A candidate for chancellor has never failed to win on the first ballot in post-war Germany. Merz needed a majority of 316 out of 630 votes in a secret ballot but only received 310 votes well short of the 328 seats held by his coalition. The lower house of parliament has 14 days to elect a candidate with an absolute majority. Merz can run again, but other lawmakers can also throw their hat in the ring.

Originally scheduled for September 28, the German elections were advanced following the dramatic collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's three-party coalition government in November

The vote also kicked off election campaigning in earnest, with conservative challenger Friedrich Merz, who surveys suggest is likely to replace Scholz

Germany's centre-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced Wednesday he was firing Finance Minister Christian Lindner, signalling the collapse of the ruling three-party coalition that relied on Lindner's pro-business party. Scholz announced the move at a news conference following weeks of disputes among the coalition partners over ways to boost the country's ailing economy. He said he would seek a vote of confidence in January that he said might lead to early elections that otherwise would be due next September. I feel compelled to take this step to prevent damage to our country. We need an effective government that has the strength to make the necessary decisions for our country," Scholz said. Lindner, from the pro-business Free Democrats, had rejected tax increases or changes to Germany's strict self-imposed limits on running up debt. Scholz's Social Democrats and the environmental Greens, who are also part of the coalition, wanted to see massive state investment and rejected the Free

Figures published by public broadcaster WDR forecast the Christian Democrats making small gains in the North Rhine-Westphalia state election to take 35.7 per cent of the vote

Chancellor Angela Merkel's struggling would-be heir hit back at suggestions that a center-left rival is better qualified for the job after a televised debate failed to give him a clear breakthrough

Merkel's CDU/CSU bloc is largest party; hard-right party AfD on track for 13.5% of vote