German Chancellor seeks no-confidence vote in parliament, paving path for snap election
BERLIN – Chancellor Olaf Scholz will call on Germany’s parliament on Monday to declare it has no confidence in him, as the first formal step towards calling for a snap national election in the wake of his government’s collapse.
The departure of the neoliberal Free Democrats from the three-way coalition last month left Scholz’s Social Democrats and the Greens governing without a parliamentary majority amid the country’s deepest economic crisis in a generation.
Scholz remains as caretaker leader until a new government can be formed after the planned Feb. 23 election. Meanwhile, the campaign is focusing on debates over which urgent measures he should pass with opposition support before then.
Rules established to prevent the series of short-lived and unstable governments that contributed to the Nazis’ rise to power in the 1930s mean that the path to new elections is lengthy and mainly controlled by the chancellor.
“I hope we will follow tradition and get a stable government within a reasonable time frame,” German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.
In Germany, the president’s role is largely ceremonial but includes dissolving parliament and formally calling an election, on the chancellor’s advice, after the loss of a no-confidence vote.
Still, the outcome of Monday’s vote is not entirely certain, as Scholz’s SPD is likely to signal it still has confidence in the chancellor. Therefore, many legislators expect the Greens to abstain, which will prevent that scenario.
