UPDATE:

Friedrich Merz was elected Chancellor in the second round of voting. After a six-hour political thriller, Merz received 325 votes out of a total of 618 — nine more than needed for a first-round victory and 15 more than he had received in the morning.
A total of 289 MPs voted against him, while there was one abstention and three invalid ballots.

Merz thus becomes the 10th Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.

“I accept the result,” said Merz following the announcement of the vote by the President of the Bundestag, and he is expected to begin work as early as tomorrow. He is scheduled to be sworn in shortly after 7 p.m. today (Greek time) and is already heading to the presidential palace.

According to DW, the largest majority ever recorded in a chancellor election was in December 2013, during Angela Merkel’s second term. At that time, 462 voted in favor and 150 against — 146 votes more than the required majority.

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UPDATE: A solution has been found for holding the second round of voting in the Bundestag to elect Friedrich Merz as Chancellor. According to Bild, the process started at 16:15 (Greek time).

The democratic parties have agreed to hold a second vote within the day, announced Lars Klingbeil, the president of the SPD, while this development was also confirmed by the leader of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Jens Spahn.

Meanwhile, internal procedures within the parties are ongoing, and earlier there were indications from both the CDU/CSU parliamentary group and from the AfD and the Left Party that the second round would indeed take place today.

For the process to be repeated, the agreement of two-thirds of the parliamentary parties is required, and initially, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) had rejected the proposal for a new vote tonight, opting instead for the plenary session tomorrow. However, it was just reported that the AfD might eventually agree to a new vote this evening.
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Friedrich Merz failed to be elected Chancellor of Germany in the first vote held in the German Bundestag on Tuesday (May 6).

With 310 votes in favor, 307 against, and 3 abstentions, the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Friedrich Merz, did not succeed in being elected chancellor during the Bundestag’s first vote. A total of 316 votes were required out of the 630 members of parliament.

According to Die Welt, the session was adjourned to allow political groups to consult on their next steps.

As reported by German media, this situation is unprecedented in the history of the Federal Republic.

DW: Shock in Berlin and a Blow for Merz

“This is a development no one expected. A total of 18 members from the governing coalition did not vote in favor of Friedrich Merz, delivering a serious blow both to him and to the government.

Members of parliament left the chamber, and party leaderships are now in meetings, while the media appeared unprepared for this outcome, which disrupts the entire day’s agenda,” Deutsche Welle reported.

What Happens Next

To be elected, a candidate must receive an absolute majority of Bundestag members — that is, at least half the members plus one additional vote. This is sometimes referred to as the “chancellor majority.”

If no candidate secures an absolute majority in the first round, a second round of voting is held. The Bundestag then has 14 days to elect another candidate for the chancellorship. There is no limit to the number of possible votes during this period, but an absolute majority is always required (Article 63.3 of the Basic Law).

If the second round also fails to produce a result, the process enters a third phase, during which a new vote must be held immediately. In this final round, the candidate who receives the most votes (a relative majority) is elected chancellor.

Aside from Merz, other candidates can now theoretically be nominated. Each candidate, however, must also secure the absolute majority — the chancellor majority — to be elected.