Mr. Merz needed two rounds of voting to become chancellor after a surprising defeat in Parliament hours earlier that threatened to hobble his new government.

Center-right politician Friedrich Merz was elected as German chancellor Tuesday in a second vote just hours after his historic defeat in a bid to lead the country.

Conservative leader Friedrich Merz has won a parliament vote to become Germany's next chancellor at the second attempt. Merz had initially fallen six votes short of the absolute majority he needed on Tuesday morning - a significant blow to his prestige and an unprecedented failure in post-war German history.