Bundestag unexpectedly does not agree with Chancellor Merz in the first round

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13:33

In the Bundestag, Friedrich Merz did not succeed on Tuesday to gather enough voices during the first round of voting to be elected as Chancellor. Merz, party leader of the Christian Democratic CDU and intended government leader after the election profit in February, came to 310 votes. For an absolute majority, 316 were needed.

CDU and the Social Democratic SPD, which together form the new German government, have 328 votes together in the Bundestag. Both the CDU/CSU group and that of the SPD are completely present in the Bundestag according to a count, so 18 parliamentarians of the coalition parties did not vote for Merz. Because the mood is done anonymously, it is not clear who they were. During the first round, 621 of the total of 630 votes were cast. After the surprising result of the first voting round, the Bundestag president suspended the session.

The groups, who have withdrawn for deliberation, must now or all consent a second voting round, or the Federal President must initiate a second round. However, the government parties will also have their reservations for a second voting round under the same circumstances, because it is not said that Merz will know how to collect all Bundestag members of his coalition. It is known that no second voting round will be held on Tuesday. It has never before happened in the parliamentary history of Germany that a Chancellor was not elected in the first round of voting.

SPD-Bondsdag member Ralf Stegner says in a response that he does not think that SPD people in particular voted against Merz: « The SPD knows its responsibility. There are no democratic alternatives for this government and therefore Merz must be chosen as quickly as possible. »

In addition to a coalition of CDU/CSU and SPD, no two-party coalition is possible without the radical-right alternative für Deutschland (AfD). Chairman of the Radical-Right Alternative Für Deutschland (AFD) Alice Weidel responded to Merz’s defeat with the words that « Merz has no chance » and that he must therefore make new elections possible.

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