German shares fell sharply after Friedrich Merz surprisingly failed to secure enough votes to become chancellor after the first round of parliamentary voting.
Source: Sharecast
The result shocked markets across Europe, as Merz had been widely expected to win the vote and succeed Olaf Sholz six months to the day his government collapsed.
His CDU/CSU/SPD coalition has a nominal 328 votes in the Bundestag – but he received only 310 and fell six short of the majority required to confirm him as the leader of Europe's biggest economy.
Germany's DAX slumped almost 2% on the news, while the Euro Stoxx index, which covers the eurozone, was down 1%.
It is the first time in Germany’s postwar history that a candidate has lost the first round of voting. Merz, 69, leads the centre-right CDU/CSU bloc which won February’s snap election with 28.6% of the vote, forcing him to agree a coalition with the socialist party.
Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com
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