Germany elects center-right politician Friedrich Merz as chancellor

By Rob Schmitz

Published May 6, 2025 at 5:00 PM EDT

Center-right politician Friedrich Merz was elected chancellor after an unprecedented two rounds of voting in the German parliament.

Rob Schmitz

Rob Schmitz is NPR's international correspondent based in Berlin, where he covers the human stories of a vast region reckoning with its past while it tries to guide the world toward a brighter future. From his base in the heart of Europe, Schmitz has covered Germany's levelheaded management of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of right-wing nationalist politics in Poland and creeping Chinese government influence inside the Czech Republic.

See stories by Rob Schmitz

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