Blow for Merz in vote to lead

Germany's conservative leader Friedrich Merz suffered a serious blow yesterday when he failed to win a parliamentary majority in the first round of voting to become the next chancellor.

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Mr Merz had expected to win a majority of at least 316 of the 630 votes in the lower house of parliament. But he won the backing of only 310 MPs, with 307 voting against him.

There will now be two further rounds of voting in the Bundestag, and in the third and final round a simple majority of lawmakers will suffice to see him elected.

The vote had been widely seen as a formality, with Mr Merz backed by a coalition of his CDU/CSU alliance, which won February's general elections, and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), who together have 328 seats.

Three lawmakers abstained, with one invalid ballot, while nine MPs were absent.