Dec. 27 (UPI) — Germany will elect a new government seven months ahead of schedule after President Frank-Walter Steinmeier dissolved parliament and called for snap elections on Friday.
The new elections will happen on Feb. 23 to replace the governing coalition that had been led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz before it fell apart. Scholz had lost a confidence vote in parliament on Dec. 16, leaving the government in a rare state of chaos.
Steinmeier said he dissolved the Bundestag because the country needed a “government that is capable of taking action.” He said Scholz’s governing coalition had taken to fighting with one another, leaving legislation at a stalemate during “difficult times.”
He admitted that a snap election comes at a stressful time for one of the leading governments in the European Union with Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine, Israel’s war in Gaza and the challenging economic times existing throughout all the EU member states.
“That is why I am convinced that new elections are the right way forward for the good of our country,” Steinmeier said, according to Euronews.com. “That is why the coming weeks must be about finding the best solutions to the challenges of our time.”
According to the latest local polls, the Christian Democratic Union remains the projected leader with 31%, but it still would need a governing partner. The center-left part likely will not find that partner in the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, which has the second largest number of votes with 19%.
In the same poll, the Social Democratic Party has 15% of the vote and the Green Party has 14%.
