Center-right politician Friedrich Merz was elected as German chancellor Tuesday in a second vote just hours after his historic defeat in a bid to lead the country.

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.

Article 63 of Germany's constitution, the Basic Law, says that, to become chancellor, a candidate in the first round needs to win an absolute majority in the Bundestag or lower house. Merz won 310 votes, short of the 316 that constitute an absolute majority in the chamber of 630 members.