BERLIN - Friedrich Merz, hitherto favourite to become Germany's next chancellor, suffered a blow three weeks before a national election on Friday when 12 of his own legislators refused to support him in backing a migration bill that thereby failed to pass in parliament.

Former German chancellor Angela Merkel has criticized her centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) for passing a motion in parliament calling for hard-line reforms to migration policy with the support of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

For the first time in the 75-year post-war history of the German parliament, one of the major parliamentary groups has made common cause with fascists to help an authoritarian and racist motion achieve a breakthrough.