German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz has confirmed that he would ask for a vote of confidence to take place on December 16, 2024.
This came a week after his three-party coalition government collapsed.
He told the Bundestag that on December 11, 2024, he will submit a request for a vote of confidence in his government, with the vote scheduled for December 16, 2024.
That would pave the way for early parliamentary elections in February. “The date at the end of February has now been set and I am very grateful for that,” the Chancellor said.
He had initially wanted to have an early election by late March, bringing forward a vote that had been scheduled for September 2025. However, the centre-right opposition pushed for a quicker vote in the parliament to speed up the process.
Addressing the Bundestag, Scholz defended his decision to fire Finance Minister Christian Lindner last week, prompting the collapse of his three-party coalition and early elections.“The decision was correct and unavoidable,” he stated.
Germany has been governed since 2021 by a coalition led by Scholz’s left-leaning Social Democrats with the smaller pro-business Free Democrats and the Greens.
It was an uneasy and fractious alliance, and it collapsed last week when Scholz fired the finance minister, Christian Lindner, of the Free Democrats, in a late-night move after disagreements over how to revive the shrinking economy.
Also, Scholz called on opposition parties to support key legislation after last week losing his majority in parliament, urging them to prevent his country from becoming as polarised as the US.
“There is no democracy without compromises. Let us, for the good of the country, work together until the new election.”
Olaf Scholz
During his speech, Scholz shifted into campaign mode – though the heated part of campaigning usually only begins about six weeks before an election in Germany.
Four candidates are expected to make their pitch for the chancellery to voters in February. Scholz has said he wants to run as Chancellor candidate again, though his party has not yet announced his candidacy.
Friedrich Merz, the head of the main opposition party in parliament, the Christian Democrats, which is leading in the polls, was officially nominated as candidate by his party in September.
For the Greens, Robert Habeck, the Economy Minister and Vice Chancellor, will lead his party as candidate for chancellor.
The Greens are a small party that lost popularity in recent elections and whose support hovers at about 10%, which means it is unlikely he would end up as the country’s leader.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), has said it would nominate its leader, Alice Weidel, next month as its candidate.
Merz’s Christian Democrats have been polling at about 30% or more for the past year. Scholz’s Social Democrats, the strongest governing party, are in third place with about 16%, behind the AfD which is polling at about 19%.
The main campaign issues are likely to be the ailing economy, which led to the collapse of the government in the first place, more efficient control of migration, and the foreign policy issues of Russia’s war on Ukraine and the next presidency of Donald Trump.
Scholz’s Record Slammed
Speaking after the Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, head of the main opposition party, the Christian Democrats tore into Scholz’s record.
“You are dividing the country. You are the one responsible for these controversies and for this division in Germany. You simply cannot govern a country like this.”
Friedrich Merz,
He stated that Germany urgently needed a “completely different type of politics.” Under the leadership of a CDU-led government, he said, that would include backtracking on the government’s climate policies and immigration reform.
Also speaking in the Bundestag, Christian Lindner, the sacked Finance Minister, said that Scholz did not appear to be listening to the German people. “If you only go round in a circle, you can’t expect to lead a coalition of progress,” he said.
Of his sacking, he stated, “Sometimes being relieved of something is freeing.”
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