The ordeal of Friedrich Merz had seemed unending. At 69 years old, the president of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who had been vying for the chancellorship for over 20 years, had to wait a few more hours for his dream to finally come true. On Tuesday, May 6, his election in the Bundestag, which should have gone smoothly, nearly turned into a nightmare. It was only in the second round, after an exhausting day full of twists and turns, that he finally gathered the necessary majority to be formally elected chancellor, with a majority of 325 votes out of a total of 630 MPs.

Nothing happened as planned. The vote, scheduled for Tuesday at 9 am in the Bundestag, was supposed to be a mere formality. Confident, the future chancellor had brought from his native Sauerland, by car, a 10-liter keg of blond beer to celebrate his appointment that evening at the chancellery, as revealed by the daily Bild in the morning.

When the session opened, all the members of his future government were present, seated in the stands, right next to those of the outgoing Social Democratic (SPD) chancellor, Olaf Scholz, who expected to revert to being a simple MP a few minutes later. Also visible was former chancellor Angela Merkel − a historical rival of Merz − who attended the spectacle in a pale yellow jacket, as well as Charlotte Merz, the discreet wife of the future chancellor, present for almost all his engagements. The day's schedule was meticulously planned: after the vote, Merz was supposed to go to Bellevue Palace to receive his appointment certificate from President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, before returning to the chamber to take the oath.

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