German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has lost a vote of confidence in the country’s parliament, the Bundestag, paving the way for early elections to be held in February.
In the vote on Monday, December 16th, 394 MPs declared they have no confidence in the government, while 207 lawmakers voted for the cabinet to stay in power. 116 MPs abstained.
The vote was a formality since Scholz was expected to lose, as his government—which consists of the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens—does not command a majority in parliament.
The government collapsed in November after the smallest coalition partner, the liberal FDP, pulled out of the cabinet, and Scholz had no choice but to request a vote of confidence.
In his speech before the vote, Olaf Scholz used the opportunity to praise himself and start campaigning on behalf of his SPD party. He said that maintaining a three-party government required strength and determination. He also accused the FDP of not being mature enough to stay in the cabinet and wait out the elections that were originally scheduled to be held next September.
Voters have been frustrated by the three-way government of the past three years: it has overseen an influx of hundreds of thousands of migrants and economic stagnation coupled with tax hikes and rising energy prices.
Nevertheless, the chancellor boasted about reducing illegal migration and noted that Germany’s economy can’t succeed without more foreign workers. He said that if he were reelected, he would introduce tax incentives for companies so that Germany could compete globally with the United States and China. He also urged a “modernisation” of the debt brake which restricts the public deficit to 0.35% of GDP and prohibits Germany’s sixteen states from running deficits.
Scholz also defended his support for Ukraine, saying that Germany would be in danger if Russia won the war. However, he promised that no German soldiers or German Taurus missiles would ever be sent to Ukraine as long as he remained chancellor.
The leader of the opposition, the head of the centre-right CDU Friedrich Merz, called Monday’s session a day of relief for the country and said that Olaf Scholz was in fact not able to lead the coalition successfully as he had claimed. Merz attacked the outgoing government for pursuing a damaging economic policy that has driven energy prices up. Merz also promised tax cuts in the event that his party forms the next government.
Co-leader and chancellor nominee of the right-wing opposition AfD party Alice Weidel also heavily criticised the government’s economic and migration policy, and called for Syrian refugees to be returned home following the fall of the Assad regime. She also accused the mainstream parties of making Germany a potential target for a nuclear attack from Russia by having supported providing military aid to Ukraine.
Following the dissolution of parliament, snap elections will be held on February 23rd—a date the government parties and the centre-right CDU/CSU alliance had already agreed on previously.
According to the latest polls, CDU/CSU is on course to win the elections, as it has the support of 31% of the electorate. The right-wing AfD party is polling at 20%, the Social Democrats at 17%, the Greens at 11%, the left-wing nationalist Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht at 8%, and the liberal FDP at 5%.
The most likely scenario following the elections is that the centre-right will strive to form a coalition with the Social Democrats—reviving the so-called grand coalition—and maybe a third, smaller party. The CDU/CSU would prefer the FDP if the latter succeeds in passing the 5% threshold.
