Chaos in Germany as Friedrich Merz fails to be elected chancellor after MPs rebel amid anger at AfD being designated 'far right', country's huge bill to defend Ukraine and migrant crisis

Germany was thrown into political chaos today as Friedrich Merz's bid to become the country's 10th chancellor shockingly failed in the first round of voting in parliament by just six votes.

Merz, the conservative leader, was expected to win the vote on Tuesday. 

But for the first time in the Federal Republic's history, the candidate to become chancellor fell at the first hurdle, sparking calls for him to resign and the country to hold fresh elections just three months after the last.

Alice Weidel, the co-leader of the AfD, was seen smiling in response to the surprising result. 

Her hard-right party, which came second in February's election, have sued Germany's domestic inelligence service after being designated as a 'right wing extremist' organisation last week.

Weidel called on him to 'resign immediately', adding: 'Merz should step aside and the way should be cleared for a general election.

'This is of course a historic setback. The man is so damaged and this so-called governing coalition has been a mess from the start.'

Bernd Baumann, the AfD's parliamentary group leader, said: 'Merz is damaged, whatever else happens in future.'

Merz has been under pressure in recent weeks, having scrambled to put together a coalition with the centre-left Social Democratic Party, which now holds a slim majority in the Bundestag.

As well as stemming the electoral rise of the AfD, the Christian Democratic Union leader was also facing questions over curbing illegal migration and his approach to backing Ukraine against the Russian invasion.

His party are now neck-and-neck in the polls with the AfD, having held a comfortable lead earlier in the year and won 58 more seats in the election.

'The whole of Europe looked to Berlin today in the hope that Germany would reassert itself as an anchor of stability and a pro-European powerhouse,' Jana Puglierin, head of the Berlin office of the European Council on Foreign Relations think-tank, said.

'That hope has been dashed. With consequences way beyond our borders.' 

The parties will now regroup to discuss the next steps but it was not immediately clear how long the process could take. Outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz will remain in a caretaker role until the eventual outcome is reached.

Party insiders have reportedly said the mood within the CDU is 'hectic and surreal' but that figures are sticking by Merz. 

The vote, which came on the eve of the 80th anniversary of Germany's unconditional surrender in World War II, was largely seen as a formality to confirm Merz as Chancellor.

Johann Wadepuhl, the designated next foreign minister, said he was still confident that Merz would ultimately prevail.

'It is an annoying process, but in a parliamentary democracy, in a liberal country, this is unfortunately one of the scenarios that you have to be prepared for,' he told reporters today.

He said the failure to be voted in was an 'obstacle but not a catastrophe'. 

The CDU leader was meant to travel to both Paris and Warsaw on Wednesday if he had been successful.

He was already facing questions over the AfD's status as a legal political entity after it was classified as a 'right wing extremist' organisation by the German domestic intelligence service. 

Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution described the party as a threat to the country's democratic order, saying it 'disregards human dignity' - in particular by what it called 'ongoing agitation' against refugees and migrants. 

Mainstream German political parties refuse to work with it, citing the so-called 'firewall' they've upheld against cooperating with far-right parties since the end of the war. 

Johann Wadepuhl, the designated next foreign minister, said he was still confident that Merz would ultimately prevail

The CDU signed a coalition deal with the centre-left SPD yesterday, with 328 seats between the two parties indicating that Merz had enough support to win today's vote

The parliamentary vote is a secret ballot, meaning the votes of individual lawmakers will never be revealed

The Bundestag will not hold a second vote later today, despite reports that Merz's team was considering pushing for one

But senior figures in the White House, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance, criticised the move and called on them to undo the classification. 

Merz has not commented publicly on the intelligence service's decision. 

The AfD, now subject to broader surveillance, was shaping up to be a political thorn in Merz's side.

Following the elections, the conservative leader said the fact that AfD doubled its vote share in percentage terms is a 'real warning bell, a real alarm bell for the political parties of the centre in Germany to come up with shared solutions'. 

The AfD is likely to hold his feet to the fire over major issues affecting German politics, including migration, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and whether Merz gives too much ground to the SPD.

Merz's coalition has pledged to spur economic growth, take a tougher approach to migration and catch up on long-neglected modernisation. 

The CDU have been accused of abandoning their commitment to fiscal conservatism, however, after Merz decided to loosen borrowing limits.