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.

Friedrich Merz on Tuesday became Germany's chancellor, succeeding in a second-round parliamentary vote after initially failing to secure the necessary support. The first-round setback was unprecedented in Germany's modern history,

Friedrich Merz has been elected as Germany's 10th post-World War II chancellor, the culmination of a long political career that was once sidelined by his party’s iconic leader, Angela Merkel.