Merz was six votes short of an absolute majority needed to become Germany's new Chancellor. A new vote will be held on Tuesday.
For the first time in Germany's history, a Chancellor-designate failed to obtain the necessary votes in the Bundestag.
Short of majority
After elections in February and the forming of a coalition on Monday, the only hurdle for Merz to start working was today's election - normally a formality.
But Merz obtained just 310 yes-votes, while 307 parliamentarians voted against him. He would have needed 316 votes in the 630 strong parliament.
"Merz should step aside and the way should be cleared for a general election," Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-leader Alice Weidel told reporters, calling the result a "good day for Germany".
But he still has a chance.
New vote
According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ,) a second vote "will be held today (Tuesday)" at 15:15, after the coalition between the CDU/CSU and the SPD came to an agreement with the Greens and Die Linke, creating a two-thirds majority needed to hold the second round.
Earlier on, Left Party politician Ramelow said he is "in favour of such a shortened deadline".
According to the German constitution, if after several rounds, Merz doesn't manage to obtain the absolute majority, "standards will be lowered" and the "candidate receiving the most votes shall be elected."
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(With newswires)
