Who was elected German chancellor that day, after an unprecedented failed first vote?

Friedrich Merz's CDU/CSU alliance had won Germany's February 2025 snap election, but when the Bundestag voted on installing him as chancellor, he unexpectedly fell short of the required majority in the first round — an unprecedented failure in the history of Germany's postwar parliament. A same-day second vote succeeded, and Merz's government finally ended six months of political deadlock that had followed the collapse of the previous coalition led by Olaf Scholz in late 2024.

Scholz was the outgoing chancellor whose government had already collapsed, not the one elected that day, and Markus Söder, while a prominent CSU figure, was never the party alliance's chancellor candidate in this election.

The failed first vote sent a jolt through German politics precisely because such votes are normally a formality once a coalition has already agreed on its candidate beforehand, making the surprise doubly notable.