Germany’s Friedrich Merz named chancellor after parliamentary setback

BERLIN — Friedrich Merz was elected chancellor by the German parliament on Tuesday in a second round of voting, after failing to secure an absolute majority in an earlier round. Merz, the leader of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), was sworn in to office as the fifth chancellor of a reunified Germany on Tuesday evening. He was expected to easily win enough votes in Germany’s lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, to win the office. But his historic setback highlighted the precarious position of Merz’s coalition as well as the growing political fragmentation in the German parliament. The domestic challenge of Germany’s rising far-right AfD party has also deepened ideological divides in Germany and spilled into the transatlantic relationship.