When Olaf Scholz’s beleaguered government finally collapsed on November 6 of last year, Germans might have hoped that their nation’s political fortunes were about to improve. Scholz’s coalition, stitched together from fragile and incompatible parties, had long been marked by dysfunction, broken promises, and public disillusionment. Yet few could have predicted that the next chapter would begin in even greater embarrassment.

Just six months after Scholz’s downfall, Germany’s new leadership under Friedrich Merz has stumbled out of the gate, facing an unprecedented political debacle. On May 6, Merz, leader of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), failed to secure enough votes from the Bundestag to be confirmed as chancellor on his first attempt-a shocking and historic failure without precedent in the Federal Republic’s postwar history. Though Merz scraped through on a second ballot after frantic behind-the-scenes bargaining, the damage was immediate and profound.

In Germany’s system, a chancellor-designate only asks for a parliamentary vote when they are confident of a secured majority. Merz’s failure on the first ballot exposed not just tactical incompetence but revealed a coalition already riven by distrust, division, and betrayal. His alliance with the Social Democrats (SPD), led by Lars Klingbeil, was supposed to usher in a period of stability after the turbulence of Scholz. Instead, it has begun with whispers of mutiny and suspicion of sabotage-an inauspicious omen for a country in dire need of serious governance.

The symbolism of Merz’s humiliation cannot be overstated. Not only did he suffer the indignity of becoming the first chancellor-designate to botch his own election, but he also exposed the weakness at the very heart of Germany’s political........

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