German Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a vote of confidence in the country’s Parliament on Monday, opening the door for early elections to be held by the end of February.
Scholz gained the support of 207 lawmakers in the Bundestag, but 394 voted against him, and 116 abstained. He needed a majority of 367 votes to win the vote of confidence.
Scholz leads a minority government after his three-party coalition collapsed on November 6 due to disagreements on how to revive the country’s stagnating economy. Leaders from several major parties agreed to hold parliamentary elections on February 23, seven months ahead of the regular election date.
The vote of confidence was required because Germany’s Constitution does not allow Parliament to dissolve itself.
It is now up to President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to decide whether to dissolve the Bundestag and call for new elections. He has 21 days to make that decision, and once the Parliament is dissolved, elections must be held within 60 days. Polls show that Scholz’s party is trailing the main opposition party, the Union bloc of Friedrich Merz. Green Party Vice President Robert Habeck, whose party is also behind in the polls, is also expected to run for chancellor.
The far-right party, Alternative for Germany, which has seen rising support in surveys, has nominated Alice Weidel as their candidate for chancellor, but she is unlikely to secure the position as other parties refuse to cooperate with them.
