Friedrich Merz’s bid to become Germany’s 10th chancellor has unexpectedly failed in the first round of parliamentary voting.
Mr Merz, leader of the country’s conservative party, needed a majority of 316 out of 630 votes in a secret ballot.
He received 310 – falling short by just six votes.
He had been expected to win the ballot comfortably.
Parties will now regroup to discuss the next step. It is unclear how long that will take, but another vote could be held later on Tuesday.
The lower house of parliament – the Bundestag – has 14 days to elect a candidate with an absolute majority.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
You can receive Breaking News alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News App. You can also follow @SkyNews on X or subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.
Doonited Affiliated: Syndicate News Hunt
This report has been published as part of an auto-generated syndicated wire feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been modified or edited by Doonited
