Conservative Friedrich Merz takes office after a “dark morning”
After an unprecedented and unsuccessful first vote, the leader of Germany's Christian right finally managed to garner the necessary number of votes to become chancellor on Tuesday, May 6. But for the German press, his legitimacy is more shaken than ever.
The second time was the charm for conservative Friedrich Merz. After a “black morning,” the leader of the German Christian right was finally elected to the German chancellery on Tuesday, May 6, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung live feed . A total of 325 parliamentarians voted in his favor: he will therefore be able to lead, as planned, a coalition government composed of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
His arrival in power has been turbulent. On the morning of May 6, the man the press nicknamed “the man from Sauerland” (a rural region in western Germany) “surprisingly” lost by six votes a first vote that was supposed to lead him to the head of the country. A first: “Until now,” recalls Die Welt , “no chancellor, from Konrad Adenauer to Olaf Scholz , had failed in the first round in front of Parliament, after [having won] the legislative elections and [conducted] negotiations to form a coalition.”
For the conservative newspaper, this first unsuccessful vote risks weighing on the legitimacy of Friedrich Merz and his government. “The red-black coalition [the colors of the CDU-CSU and the SPD], which was supposed to bring a little
Courrier International
