Which of the following statements is/are correct about recently elected Chancellor of Germany Mr. Friedrich Merz? 1. He lost in the first round of voting. 2. His coalition includes Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union. Select the answer using the code given below.

Q: What is the answer to CAPF 2025 Paper I Q10?

C. Correct — C, Both 1 and 2. Friedrich Merz was elected German Chancellor on 6 May 2025, but not at the first attempt. In the first Bundestag ballot that morning he fell short of the absolute majority the Basic Law requires, taking 310 votes when 316 were needed — the first time since the Federal Republic was founded that a chancellor-designate lost an opening ballot. A second ballot was held the same day and he was elected with 325 votes. Statement 1 is therefore correct. Statement 2 is also correct: Merz leads the Christian Democratic Union, which sits in permanent alliance with the Bavarian Christian Social Union, and the government he formed rests on that CDU/CSU bloc together with the Social Democrats. Both statements stand. (Provisional — pending the official UPSC key.)

(a)1 only
(b)2 only
(c)Both 1 and 2
(d)Neither 1 nor 2

Answer

Why

Correct — C, Both 1 and 2. Friedrich Merz was elected German Chancellor on 6 May 2025, but not at the first attempt. In the first Bundestag ballot that morning he fell short of the absolute majority the Basic Law requires, taking 310 votes when 316 were needed — the first time since the Federal Republic was founded that a chancellor-designate lost an opening ballot. A second ballot was held the same day and he was elected with 325 votes. Statement 1 is therefore correct. Statement 2 is also correct: Merz leads the Christian Democratic Union, which sits in permanent alliance with the Bavarian Christian Social Union, and the government he formed rests on that CDU/CSU bloc together with the Social Democrats. Both statements stand.

Why the others are wrong

(a)1 only — Keeps statement 1 but rejects statement 2, yet the CDU and the CSU are the two halves of the Union bloc that Merz leads into government; a coalition headed by him necessarily contains both.
(b)2 only — Rejects statement 1, which is the single most reported fact about this election — the failed first ballot was unprecedented in the Federal Republic's history.
(d)Neither 1 nor 2 — Rejects both. That would require Merz to have been elected at the first attempt and to lead a government without the CSU, and neither is the case.

Concept

The German Chancellor is elected by the Bundestag, and Article 63 of the Basic Law requires an absolute majority of all members in the first ballot, not merely a majority of those voting. If the first ballot fails, the Bundestag has fourteen days to elect someone by absolute majority; only after that may a candidate take office on a simple plurality with the President's consent. The Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union are separate parties — the CSU contests only in Bavaria and the CDU only outside it — but they form a single parliamentary group, so a Union-led government always contains both.

Two-statement items on foreign politics are usually decided by which statement carries the newsworthy detail. Statement 1 here is the newsworthy one, and its unusualness is precisely why it is true: a first-ballot failure had never happened before in the Federal Republic. Statement 2 looks like it might be a trap because the coalition also includes the Social Democrats, and a careless reader may think the statement is incomplete. It is not — it says the coalition includes the CDU and the CSU, which is true, and a statement that lists some members of a set is not falsified by omitting the rest.

Key facts

Friedrich Merz was elected German Chancellor on 6 May 2025.
He failed to secure the required absolute majority in the first Bundestag ballot, taking 310 votes against the 316 needed.
He was elected in a second ballot the same day with 325 votes.
The Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union form a single parliamentary bloc; the CSU contests only in Bavaria.
The government formed in May 2025 rested on the CDU/CSU bloc together with the Social Democratic Party.

The west front of the Reichstag building in Berlin at sunset, its portico inscribed DEM DEUTSCHEN VOLKE with the glass dome rising behind and German flags flying — The Reichstag building in Berlin, seat of the Bundestag, which elects the German Chancellor by absolute majorityImage: Jürgen Matern · Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Study next

Article 63 of the German Basic Law and the chancellor election procedureThe constructive vote of no confidence and why it stabilises German governmentsCoalition formation in proportional representation systemsThe German federal structure and the BundesratIndia–Germany relations and the strategic partnership dialogue

Common traps

Treating a statement that lists two coalition partners as false because it does not list the third.
Assuming an election held on a single day must have been decided in a single ballot.
Confusing the CDU and the CSU for one party rather than two allied ones.

Asked as a two-statement code item on a very recent foreign political event, where one statement carries the headline detail and the other tests party structure.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
Under the German Basic Law, what majority does a chancellor need in the first Bundestag ballot?
- (a)A simple majority of those present and voting
- (b)An absolute majority of all members of the Bundestag
- (c)A two-thirds majority
- (d)Approval by the Bundesrat
Answer(b) An absolute majority of all members of the Bundestag — which is what Friedrich Merz missed on the first ballot in May 2025.
practice — not a real PYQ
The Christian Social Union, the Christian Democratic Union's sister party, contests elections in which German state?
- (a)Saxony
- (b)Bavaria
- (c)Hesse
- (d)Lower Saxony
Answer(b) Bavaria — the CDU contests everywhere else, and the two sit as one parliamentary group.