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 CDU/CSU conservatives, 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 after securing a coalition deal with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).
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.
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