Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote in the German parliament on Monday, forcing the EU’s most populous member and largest economy to hold early elections in February.
Scholz won the support of 207 lawmakers in the 733-seat lower house, or Bundestag, while 394 voted against him and 116 abstained. Due to this, he fell far short of the majority of 367 required for victory.
Scholz is leading a minority government after his unpopular and notorious three-party coalition collapsed on November 6, when he fired his finance minister in a dispute over how to revive Germany’s stagnant economy. Leaders of several major parties then agreed that parliamentary elections should be held on 23 February, seven months earlier than originally planned.
The vote of confidence was required because the constitution of post-World War II Germany does not allow the Bundestag to dissolve itself. Now President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has to decide whether to dissolve Parliament and call elections or not.
Steinmeier has 21 days to decide — and, because of the planned timing of the election, is expected to do so after Christmas. Once Parliament is dissolved, elections must be held within 60 days.
In practice, the campaign is already well underway, and Monday’s three-hour debate reflected this.
What did the claimants say?
Scholz, a center-left Social Democrat, told lawmakers that the election would determine whether “we, as a strong country, dare to invest strongly in our future; whether we have confidence in ourselves and our country, Or do we stake our future” line? “Do we risk our cohesion and our prosperity by delaying long-overdue investments?”
Scholz’s appeal to voters includes a pledge to “modernize” Germany’s strict self-imposed rules on debt, raise the national minimum wage and reduce the value-added tax on food.
Center-right challenger Friedrich Merz responded that “You are leaving the country in one of the biggest economic crises in post-war history.”
“You are standing here and saying, business as usual, let’s increase debt at the expense of the younger generation, let’s spend money and… the word ‘competitiveness’ of the German economy did not come up even once in the speech” you gave today. ,” said Merz.
The chancellor said Germany is Ukraine’s largest military supplier in Europe and he wants it to remain so, but insisted it would not supply long-range Taurus cruise missiles due to concerns about escalating war with Russia. , or the Germans would not send troops. Conflict. “We will not do anything that will jeopardize our own security,” he said.
Merz, who is ready to send long-range missiles, said that “we do not need any lectures on war and peace” from Scholz’s party. However, he said that political rivals in Berlin are united with “absolute will to do everything” so that this war in Ukraine can end as soon as possible.
What are their chances?
Polls show Scholz’s party trailing Merz’s main opposition Union Bloc, which is leading. Environmentalist Greens Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, Scholz’s remaining partner in government, is also making a bid for the top job – although his party is still behind.
Germany’s far-right Alternative, which is polling strongly, has nominated Alice Weidel as its candidate for chancellor, but she has no chance of taking the post because other parties refuse to work with her. Are.
Germany’s electoral system traditionally forms coalitions, and polls show that no party is close to an absolute majority on its own. Talks are expected to last for several weeks to form a new government after the elections.
Votes of confidence are rare in Germany, a country of 83 million that values stability. This was only the sixth time in post-war history that a Chancellor had summoned someone.
The last time was in 2005, when then-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder held a preliminary election, which his centre-right rival Angela Merkel won by a narrow margin.
