Merz won in a second round of voting after failing to secure an absolute majority in an earlier round.

German conservative leader Friedrich Merz was elected chancellor by parliament on Tuesday in a second round of voting after a humiliating and unprecedented defeat on the first attempt, getting his coalition government off to a wobbly start.

On the second attempt, Friedrich Merz secured parliamentary backing as Germany’s new chancellor. The result paves the way for the conservative leader to take charge of Europe’s biggest economy but with considerably diminished authority.