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Bundestag rejects Merz: no majority, 18 coalition MPs vote against

Clamorous turn of events in Germany: the CDU leader stopped at 310 votes, betrayed by 18 deputies from his coalition

The German parliament has denied confidence in CDU leader Friedrich Merz in the first round of voting for chancellor. A historic rejection, the first of its kind in the history of the Federal Republic: Merz obtained 310 votes, six fewer than the necessary threshold, despite the theoretically sufficient numbers of the Cdu/Csu-Spd coalition, which can count on 328 MPs.

The vote, which took place by secret ballot and without debate, was considered a formality. Instead, eighteen coalition MPs did not vote for Merz, a sign of an internal rift that now puts the stability of the future government at risk.

The numbers of the sitting are eloquent: 310 votes in favour, 307 against, 3 abstentions, one vote cancelled and nine MPs absent. After the non-election, Merz called a meeting with his closest allies, including Lars Klingbeil (Spd), Alexander Dobrindt (Csu) and Thorsten Frei (Cdu), as well as Bundestag President Julia Klöckner and members of her family.

The vote comes exactly six months after the collapse of the Scholz government on 6 November 2024. The then chancellor had lost his majority after the Liberals’ tear over the budget balance, leading the country to early elections on 23 February. In that vote, the Cdu/Csu was the leading bloc, followed by Afd and Spd.

Scholz’s comment was not long in coming: ‘It is absurd that the Bundestag rejected Merz,’ he said, while adding that ‘the situation is repairable’.

It is not excluded that a second round of voting will take place in the next few hours, although the most concrete hypotheses postpone this until tomorrow. The parliamentary groups are negotiating to set the date, while the Bundestag presidency confirms its readiness for a new session. Even Afd has said it is in favour of proceeding soon.

Now the leader of the Cdu will have to rebuild the ranks of his coalition and win back the missing support. Failure in a second vote would open up uncertain scenarios, with the concrete risk of a minority government or a new recourse to the ballot box.

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