A Very Rough Start for Germany's New Chancellor Merz

Friedrich Merz takes office as planned, but he begins his chancellorship on the back foot.

- Katja Hoyer

The word "unprecedented" may get near-inflationary use in political journalism, but it is entirely appropriate to describe what happened in Germany on May 6 morning.

The swearing-in of the centre-right candidate Friedrich Merz as Germany's next chancellor was considered a formality, but he missed the required parliamentary majority in the first round of voting – a first for a new chancellor in German post-war history. He won a second round later in the afternoon, confirming him as chancellor, but there is no denying that this was a terrible start for Germany's new government.

The coalition between Mr Merz's conservative CDU/CSU and the centre-left SPD was supposed to launch on the same day with a message of a fresh start. The previous government under Chancellor Olaf Scholz fell apart because of internal strife between its constituent parties.

As opposition leader, Mr Merz had repeatedly criticised their "permanent disagreement", which he said made one of the largest economies in the world "practically ungovernable". He promised a counter-model, a "government without discord".

The initial shock defeat on May 6 broke Mr Merz's core promise of a stable government before he even had a chance to take office. The required parliamentary majority to get elected as chancellor stayed just out of reach in the first round of voting, which left Mr Merz short by six votes.

That is not a lot, and he did get elected at the second round, but the damage to his core message is done. Although Mr Merz takes office as planned, he starts his chancellorship on the back foot.

The problem is not so much that there is opposition to him. That is normal in any democracy, especially in the polarised political landscape we live in today. But Mr Merz's coalition holds a majority of seats: 328 in total, 12 more than required for a majority.