Merz falls short of majority needed to become German chancellor in first voting round

Well, that didn’t go according to plan. The expectation was that Merz would’ve been elected upon the first round of voting and then the Bundestag session will be adjourned as he travels to meet with the German president to formalise his appointment. Now, all of that is put on hold.

He needed 316 votes to win a majority but didn’t manage to reach that (only got 310 votes) even though the CDU/CSU/SPD coalition has 328 MPs. There can be a second or third round of voting but it’s still unclear if that will take place today.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.