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.

Germany’s new chancellor suffered a major blow before his term even began — after dramatically losing a secret leadership election. Friedrich Merz is the first leader to suffer such a defeat since the end of World War II.

Merz is now facing a myriad of challenges, including keeping his coalition government united and boosting Germany's struggling economy. After some dramatics, and around 10 weeks after the German election, Europe's largest economy finally has a leader: Friedrich Merz.