Friedrich Merz lost the first round of votes Tuesday morning in a historic defeat, but ultimately prevailed hours later on the second ballot.

Hours after he suffered a historic defeat, Friedrich Merz was elected as German chancellor on Tuesday. The leader of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) had been widely expected to win the vote to become the country's 10th chancellor since World War II.

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.