after the collapse of his coalition, Olaf Scholz does not obtain the confidence of the deputies

The German Chancellor asked Parliament a question of confidence on Monday to pave the way for early legislative elections, while the country is going through a deep political crisis.

An expected outcome. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz did not obtain the confidence of deputies on Monday December 16. In total, 394 elected officials responded negatively to the question of confidence asked before the Bundestag – the equivalent of the French Parliament. In detail, on the 717 deputies took part in the vote, 207 gave their confidence to the leader from the Social Democratic Party and 116 abstained. This result is not a surprise, because the social democratic leader no longer had a majority since the collapse of his government coalition.

The fragile alliance between the social democrats of the SPD, their environmentalist allies, on the left, and the liberals of the FDP, on the right, imploded on November 6. The dismissal of the Liberal Finance Minister, due to deep disagreements over the budget, was followed by the resignation of most FDP ministers. Olaf Scholz planned this sabotage so that early legislative elections could be held on February 23, as he explained on X.

And now ? The chancellor must ask German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to dissolve the Bundestag. He has twenty-one days to make a decision, recalls the German newspaper The mirror. Once the dissolution is confirmed, the vote must then be organized within sixty days.. “Until then, the minority government continues to govern. Not in the interim, but as before, and in one way or another with all the powers, rights and duties as until now”specifies The mirror.

This procedure is quite unprecedented in German history. Since 1949, early elections have been held three times after a failed vote of confidence in the Bundestag: under the social democrat Willy Brandt (1972), the conservative Helmut Kohl (1982) and the social democrat Gerhard Schröder (2005).

Despite his chronic unpopularity, Olaf Scholz wants to believe in his chances of a second term. At this stage, the polls give him little hope against the conservative camp, led by Friedrich Merz, credited with 30 to 33% of voting intentions. But the chancellor has already proven his ability to defy the odds by winning the elections in 2021, against all odds.