Germany's Merz becomes chancellor after surviving historic vote failure
www.bbc.com
The conservative leader is sworn in, having won a parliament vote to become chancellor at the second attempt.

Germany’s conservative leader has unexpectedly fallen short of the numbers needed to form a majority in parliament to become chancellor.

Friedrich Merz needed 316 votes in the 630-seat Bundestag but only secured 310, in a significant blow to the Christian Democrat leader, two and a half months after winning Germany’s federal elections.

Two and a half months, they weren’t joking about slow German bureaucracy 😱

  • Enkrod@feddit.orgEnglish
    5·
    1 day ago

    He get’s two more rounds of voting, and will likely be elected in the third round. Otherwise the CDU/CSU will have to forward another candidate, since the election was for the party, not the candidate, they remain the strongest party and could propose anyone to be elected chancellor. But this might crash out the proposed coalition government if they think that the SPD cannot keep its promise to vote for him.

    • superkret@feddit.orgEnglish
      5·
      1 day ago

      If there is no winner in the second round, the candidate with the most votes wins.
      If that is the absolute majority, all is fine.
      If there is no absolute majority, the President has the option to appoint the candidate who got the most votes or dissolve the parlament and call for new elections.

    • jonne@infosec.pubEnglish
      2·
      1 day ago

      I don’t understand why they held a vote before they knew they had the numbers. Aren’t there negotiations with the coalition partners to make sure everyone is in agreement with the government plans?