German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Friday ordered the dissolution of parliament and new elections set for February 23 following the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's governing coalition, saying it was the only way to form a government. to give stability to the country that was able to deal with its problems. .
Scholz lost a vote of confidence on 16 December while leading a minority government. His notoriously unpopular three-party coalition collapsed on November 6 when he fired his finance minister in a dispute over how to revive Germany's dead economy.
Steinmeier said he made the decision because it was clear after consultation with party leaders that there was no agreement among Germany's political parties on a majority for a new government in the current parliament.
“It is only in difficult times like this that stability requires a government capable of taking action and a reliable majority in parliament,” he said while announcing in Berlin.
“So I am sure that new elections are the right way for the good of our country.”
Since the post-World War II constitution does not allow the Bundestag to dissolve itself, it was up to Steinmeier to decide whether to dissolve parliament and call an election. He had 21 days to make that decision. Once the parliament is dissolved, the election must be held within 60 days.
Leaders of several major parties earlier agreed that a parliamentary election should be held on February 23, seven months earlier than originally planned.
In practice, the campaign is already off to a good start. Opinion polls show Scholz's party trailing the anti-conservative bloc of the Union led by Friedrich Merz.
Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck of the environmentalist Greens, the remaining partner in Scholz's government, is also bidding for the top job – although his party is further back. If recent polls hold up, the next government would be led by Merz as chancellor in a coalition with at least one other party.
Key issues include immigration, how to get the slowing economy going and how best to help Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
The far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, which polls strongly, has named Alice Weidel as its candidate for chancellor but she has no chance of taking the job because other parties refuse to work with him .
Germany's electoral system traditionally produces coalitions, and opinion polls show no party close to an absolute majority on its own. The election is expected to be followed by weeks of talks to form a new government.
This is only the fourth time the Bundestag has been dissolved ahead of schedule under the German constitution after World War II. This happened under Chancellor Willy Brandt in 1972, Helmut Kohl in 1982 and Gerhard Schroeder in 2005. Schroeder used the vote of confidence to engineer an early election won by centre-right challenger Angela Merkel.
