Merz Fails to Become German Chancellor at First Round of Vote
The lower house of the German parliament failed to elect Christian Democratic Union leader Friedrich Merz as the new Chancellor of Germany at the first attempt. The Bundestag session was then adjourned.
The Gaze reports on this with reference to Spiegel.
Parliamentary Speaker Julia Klöckner read out the results of the first round of voting for the chancellor. According to her, Friedrich Merz was not elected chancellor: he received 310 votes in favour, while he needed 316 to win. After the failure, a second attempt to elect a chancellor is to take place.
The meeting was then temporarily adjourned.
The publication writes about the tense atmosphere in the lower house of parliament.
The Basic Law provides for the possibility that the chancellor will not be elected at the first attempt. Article 63, which contains the rules for the election of the chancellor, reads: ‘If a candidate is not elected, the Bundestag may elect a chancellor within 14 days of the vote by a majority of its members.’
If Merz believes that he can be more successful in the second round than in the first, he can run again at any time. Any number of rounds of voting with different candidates can be held during the two-week period. However, they also need an absolute majority of at least 316 votes to be elected.
If no one is elected, the requirements are lowered in the next round. Now a simple majority is sufficient for election. The Basic Law provides: ‘If an election cannot be held within this period, new elections shall be held immediately, in which the person who receives the largest number of votes shall be elected.’
There are 328 MPs in the Bundestag from the Christian Democratic Union and the SPD, who have agreed on a coalition and have agreed that Merz will become chancellor.
On the evening of 5 May, the German Ministry of Defence hosted a ceremony to send off Olaf Scholz, who delivered a farewell speech in which he called the upcoming change of government ‘a manifestation of democratic normality’.
He also wished Scholz ‘a lot of success, good luck and a happy hand’ in all his tasks and in the challenges ahead.
Earlier it became known that Scholz, after his term as chancellor, wants to focus on his work as a member of the Bundestag from his constituency.
However, despite the fact that he has already been ceremoniously dismissed from office, Scholz will be forced to continue to act as chancellor until a successor is elected.
As The Gaze reported earlier, European officials have responded positively to the statement by future German Chancellor Friedrich Merz that he may send long-range Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.