To accomplish that task, he will need to repair ties with the U.S. and allies, end an immigration crisis and kick-start the sluggish German economy.

Friedrich Merz's unprecedented first-round failure in the vote to make him German chancellor on Tuesday gave a boost to the far-right AfD, which just days ago was reeling from being officially labelled an extremist threat to democracy.

It was the first time in Germany’s postwar history that a chancellor-designate has failed to win an absolute majority.