Friederich Merz – not a resounding start

Conservative leader Friedrich Merz has won a parliament vote to become Germany’s next chancellor at the second attempt. He initially fell six votes short of the majority he needed on Tuesday morning – ‘a significant blow to his prestige and an unprecedented failure in post-war German history.’  His coalition with the Social Democrats should have had enough seats in parliament from the start, with 328 MPs in total, but it is thought 18 of them dissented during the fir