German Parliament backs no-trust move, clears snap election in Feb

BERLIN: Germany’s main political parties will present their election programmes on Tuesday, a day after parliament backed a no-confidence motion in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government, paving the way for a snap election on Feb. 23.

Disagreements over how to save Europe’s largest economy had been the main factor behind the collapse of Scholz’s fractious three-party coalition last month, and the economy is the top concern of German voters.

Germany has gone from being Europe’s economic powerhouse to underperforming its major euro zone peers. The economy is expected to contract in 2024 for the second consecutive year.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote in the German parliament on Monday. Scholz won the support of 207 lawmakers in the 733-seat lower house, or Bundestag, while 394 voted against him and 116 abstained. That left him far short of the majority of 367 needed to win.

Scholz leads a minority government after his three-party coalition collapsed on Nov. 6 when he fired his finance minister in a dispute over how to revitalize Germany’s stagnant economy. Leaders of several major parties then agreed that a parliamentary election should be held on Feb. 23, seven months earlier than originally planned.

The confidence vote was needed because post-World War II Germany’s constitution doesn’t allow the Bundestag to dissolve itself. Now President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has to decide whether to dissolve parliament and call an election.

Steinmeier has 21 days to make that decision — and, because of the planned timing of the election, is expected to do so after Christmas. Once parliament is dissolved, the election must be held within 60 days.