“You had your chance, you didn't take it”: with 394 votes against, Olaf Scholz loses the confidence of deputies and leads Germany towards early elections

One more step towards dissolution? Olaf Scholz finds himself at odds after the vote organized by the chancellor himself this Monday, December 16who made him plose the confidence of the Bundestag. A new blow for the German chancellery, whose tripartite coalition has already exploded in November 2024.

Towards early elections in 2025

With 394 votes against and 207 votes for and 116 abstentionsOlaf Scholz lost the vote of confidence in the Bundestag on Monday, November 16. A result that the German Chancellor expected. Now it remains “president to dissolve Parliament”declared the Social Democratic leader. And President Frank Walter Steinmeier had rightly indicated that he would act accordingly, what leads Germany towards early elections in 2025. For now, the date of February 23 was mentioned.

“You had your chance, you didn’t take it”had launched the leader of the conservative CDU/CSU camp and favorite to succeed Olaf Scholz, Friedrich Merz, just before the vote, while the deputies looked back on the three years in power of the social democratic chancellor. “If there is one country in the world that can afford to invest in the future, it is us”replied Olaf Scholz.

Despite unfavorable polls, Olaf Scholz hopes for a second term

Despite the latest failures faced by his coalition and its growing unpopularity, Olaf Scholz hopes for a second termeven if the polls give him little hope, and Germany tends more and more towards a political alternation with the conservative CDU/CSU campwhose chef Friedrich Merz is credited with 30 to 33% of voting intentionswhile the ruling party, the SPD (social democratic party) would only take up to 17% of the votes at most, in third place, after the German far-right party Alternatively for Germany (AfD), would collect 19.5% of the votes.

The chancellor had already defied the predictions

However, the German chancellor had defied the predictions by winning the German elections in 2021. A performance that he hopes to repeat, highlighting his experience in a global geopolitical context more unstable than ever between the war shaking the European continent and the return of Donald Trump to the White House in January 2025.