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.

In a historic first, conservative leader Friedrich Merz ’s bid to become Germany’s 10th chancellor since World War II failed by six votes in parliament on Tuesday, a stunning defeat as he had been widely expected to win smoothly.

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,