Friedrich Merz’s bid to become Germany’s 10th chancellor fails in parliament. It’s a historic first

BERLIN (AP) — 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. A candidate for chancellor has never failed to win on the first ballot since the end of the war. Merz needed a majority of 316 out of 630 votes in a secret ballot. He only received 310 votes — well short of the 328 seats held by his coalition. The parties were now to regroup to discuss the…