BERLIN, GERMANY - MAY 6, 2025: Conservative leader Friedrich Merz on Tuesday failed to secure the required majority in the first round of voting for the German chancellor in the parliament. In the secret ballot, 310 members of parliament voted for Merz, while 307 voted against him. Merz needed a simple majority of at least 316 votes to be elected chancellor but fell short of this threshold. The first-round setback comes despite Merz's conservative CDU/CSU alliance and its junior coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), having a comfortable majority of 328 seats in the Bundestag, surpassing the required 316-seat threshold. During the vote, three lawmakers abstained and one vote was invalid. Nine parliamentarians were absent due to illness or other reasons. Due to the secret ballot, it remained unclear how many lawmakers from the coalition parties voted against Merz's chancellorship and what their party affiliations were. After the setback, party leaders met with their senior advisers to discuss the path forward. It was not immediately clear whether a second round of voting would take place later Tuesday or would be delayed until Friday. The German Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) officially signed a coalition deal with the center-left SPD on Monday, following weeks of negotiations after the Feb. 23 elections. The Christian Democrats won the snap elections with 28.5% of the vote but fell short of an outright majority. Though the Social Democrats recorded their lowest-ever result at 16.4%, they emerged as a crucial coalition partner for forming a stable government majority in the Bundestag.