German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will face a vote of confidence in parliament, which he is likely to lose. This will pave the way for early elections on February 23, to which the leaders of key parties have already agreed. This was reported by UNN with reference to AP.
Details
The crisis in the government began on November 6, when Scholz fired the finance minister over disputes over the economic recovery, after which the pro-business FDP party left the coalition. This left the two center-left parties without a majority in the Bundestag. In this regard, it was decided to hold early elections on February 23, seven months earlier than planned.
Scholz leads the Social Democratic Party (SPD), which has 207 seats in parliament. His party will vote for the chancellor, but their former partners, the Greens, who have 117 seats, will abstain. As a result, Scholz will not be able to get the required 367 majority votes in the 733-seat Bundestag.
If the chancellor loses the vote, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will have to decide whether to dissolve the parliament. He has 21 days to do so.
The election campaign has actually started.
Scholz said that the main issues of the election would be investment in the future, industrial modernization, pension stability, and maintaining peace in Ukraine, while avoiding German involvement in the war. Although the country has become the largest arms supplier to Ukraine in Europe, Scholz opposed the transfer of long-range Taurus missiles, fearing an escalation of the conflict with Russia.
The chancellor's main opponent will be Friedrich Merz of the CDU/CSU opposition bloc, who has called for a focus on increasing the competitiveness of the German economy.
According to recent polls, Scholz's party is second to Merz's bloc, while the Greens and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck will also compete for the post of prime minister. At the same time, the far-right Alternative for Germany party has nominated its candidate, Alice Weidel, but other parties refuse to cooperate with her.
Confidence votes are rare in Germany: this will be only the sixth time since World War II. The last time such a step was taken in 2005 by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, which led to Angela Merkel's victory in the snap election.
Previously
Friedrich Merz, a candidate for the post of German Chancellor from the CDU, called Olaf Scholz's European policy a “complete failure.”