Olaf Scholz says he is open to discussions on the date of early elections

Since the fall of the government coalition, the social democratic leader has been under pressure to advance the opening of the process leading to this election.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared on Friday November 8 that he was open to discussions to speed up the organization of early elections after the fall of his government coalition. The one who fired his liberal finance minister, Christian Lindner, urged a “serene debate” on the laws that can still be voted on by Parliament, even if his government is now in a minority, on the sidelines of a European summit in Budapest (Hungary). That “could help answer the question of when is the right time” for a vote of confidence leading to early elections, he added.

The social democratic leader is under pressure to advance the opening of the process leading to this vote, which so far must begin on January 15, the date on which he plans to submit to a question of confidence asked of deputies. Since he no longer has a sufficient parliamentary majority to govern, he has every chance of losing this vote, which would open the way to early elections. Under this schedule, early legislative elections could not take place before March but calls are increasing for them to take place earlier, if possible in January.

Germany has been plunged into an unprecedented political crisis since the breakdown on Wednesday evening of the government coalition between the chancellor's social democrats, the Greens and the liberals of the FDP, who had led it since the end of 2021.