Friedrich Merz has finally succeeded in his bid to become

Friedrich Merz has finally succeeded in his bid to become the next German chancellor during a second vote in parliament, hours after he suffered a historic defeat in the first round.

The conservative leader had been expected to smoothly win the vote to become Germany’s 10th chancellor since the Second World War.

No candidate for chancellor in post-war Germany has failed to win on the first ballot.

Mr Merz received 325 votes in the second ballot.

He needed a majority of 316 out of 630 votes in a secret ballot, but only received 310 votes in the first round — well short of the 328 seats held by his Коалиция.