CHANGES OF POWER in Germany are usually bland affairs, lacking the pomp of those in France or America. The morning of May 6th was meant to be a routine final stage in the choreography of the handover of power to Friedrich Merz as chancellor, with a vote of MPs in the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament. Having led his Christian Democratic bloc to victory in February’s election, and then struck a coalition deal with the Social Democrats (SPD), Mr Merz simply required a majority of MPs to anoint him. Mr Merz’s ranks and the SPD together command 328 votes in the 630-seat chamber; a majority that looked slim but safe. But when Julia Klöckner, the president of the Bundestag and a Merz ally, announced the result, it was a bombshell. Mr Merz had secured just 310 votes, six short of a majority. At least 18 of his coalition’s MPs had turned against him.