The German parliament has formally elected Friedrich Merz as the country’s 10th chancellor since the second world war, after a humiliating loss in the first round of voting that raised troubling doubts about the stability of the next coalition government.
Merz secured 325 votes in the second round, just above the necessary 316. Earlier in the day 18 unnamed rebels from the newly formed alliance between his conservatives and the Social Democrats had voted to deprive him of the required majority in the secret ballot.
