Dec. 16 (UPI) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote Monday, setting the stage for parliamentary elections next year.
A majority of Germany’s 733 lawmakers said they no longer have confidence in the center-left chancellor’s leadership.
“ In such an election, the citizens can then determine the political course of our country,” Scholz said during a debate before voting in the Bundestag.
Scholz called the vote on Monday and was expected to lose it hoping the triggering of early elections on February 23 will be the best way to reverse the political fortunes of his Social Democratic Party.
It arrived nearly two months after the collapse of the three-party governing coalition Scholz had assembled over differences in financial policy.
He said Monday ahead of the vote that it will be up to the German people to “determine the political course of our country” which reports argue will involve a fiercely competitive election and a new era of fractured coalition building to form a new government.
The SDP confirmed its confidence in Scholz while the Greens, who were part of the minority government, abstained so the far-right Alternative for Germany party would be unable to strike a last-minute surprise to try to help save Scholz.
Roughly 76 AfD lawmakers signaled they would vote for Scholz over fears that Friedrich Merz — a possible successor in the center-right Christian Democratic Union party — may toss Germany to war over his stronger position on support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.
The last German chancellor to lose a vote of confidence was in 2005 under then-SPD Chancellor Gerhard Schroder which led to 16 years of CDU leadership under Angela Merkel.
On Monday, the chancellor is expected to meet with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the afternoon. Scholz, it’s expected, will propose the dissolution of parliament. The German president can do so within 21 days, and an election would then follow within 60 days.
However, it’s Steinmeir who will decide when the election will be and he’s widely expected to do so, according to the BBC.
