Friedrich Merz elected German chancellor on second attempt after losing initial vote
Friedrich Merz has been elected German Chancellor at the second time of asking, after the country's parliament unexpectedly voted against him the first time.
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He lost his first ballot by six votes - the first time a candidate for chancellor had failed the first time since the end of the war.
Mr Merz, the Conservative leader, needed a majority of 316 out of 630 votes in the first secret ballot. He only received 310 votes.
The second time, which proceeded after hours of deliberations, he got 325 votes - meaning he had nine more than he needed.
As the votes were secret, there were no indications of who had failed to back him the first time.
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Mr Merz, whose party is in coalition with the Social Democrats, was expected to have enough votes from both parties to secure the chancellorship the first time.
His initial failure sparked confusion in the German Bundestag.
In theory there is no limit on the number of votes that can be held to set the Chancellor, but in practice if Mr Merz had lost a second vote it would have cast severe doubt on his legitimacy.
Mr Merz has now taken the helm of the 27-nation European Union's most populous member after outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government collapsed last year.
Germany has the continent's biggest economy and serves as a diplomatic heavyweight.
Items in Mr Merz's in-tray include the war in Ukraine and the Trump administration's trade policy on top of domestic issues such as the stagnant economy and the rise of a far-right, anti-immigrant party.