“SO HELP me God,” said Friedrich Merz, Germany’s new chancellor, his right hand aloft as he solemnly recited the oath of office in the Bundestag on May 6th. Earlier in the day Mr Merz, leader of the Christian Democrats (cdu), might well have hoped for a spot of divine intervention, after the Bundestag delivered him an unprecedented rebuke. In what was expected to have been a routine step enabling his ascent to the chancellery, mps instead left him six votes short of the absolute majority he needed. At least 18 of the 328 lawmakers in Mr Merz’s conservative bloc and their junior coalition partner, the Social Democrats (spd), had balked at backing the man who won Germany’s election in February. The ballot was secret; the culprits may never be known. But whoever was to blame, it was a devilish start for a man who had pledged to bring an end to the “chaos” he said marked the tenure of the spd-led government he was replacing.