Meers failed to become Germany’s next prime minister in the first parliamentary vote

Friedrich Merz, the leader of the German Christian Democratic Party and his leader in the last 10 weeks at the Leadership, failed in his first parliamentary vote on Tuesday morning.

The setback may be temporary: Mr. Meers’ party, its sister party, the Christian Social Union and its alliance partners, the center-left Social Democrats still have enough votes to elect the Prime Minister and form the government. Now, Mr. Melz will need to put pressure on his league’s six reserved voters to support his second vote.

But this is a tripping without German precedent. Since the founding of Modern Germany, no candidate for prime minister has failed to fail in the first round of voting.

It is not clear when the second vote will be held.