BERLIN – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a parliamentary confidence vote on Monday, paving the way for snap elections in February, which is intended to lead Germany out of a political crisis triggered by the collapse of his coalition.
Only 207 of the parliament’s 733 expressed confidence, while 394 withheld it.
Scholz can now request a dissolution of parliament from President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who has already endorsed his timetable. Meanwhile, he will stay on as caretaker chancellor until a new government can be formed after the planned Feb. 23 election.
The main contenders in these elections include Germany’s two centrist parties, namely, Scholz’s centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and the opposition conservatives, an alliance of the Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU).
However, they have both lost support in recent years, with smaller parties such as the environmental Greens and far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) gaining ground.
The SPD, conservatives, Greens, and AfD are all fielding candidates for chancellor.
Also running are the pro-market Free Democrats (FDP), the far-left Linke, and the leftist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), who are all at risk of missing the 5% threshold to make it into parliament, according to opinion polls.
