Germany: Scholz Loses Credibility, Elections on February 23

Olaf Scholz no longer has the confidence of the Bundestag, so Germany will go to early elections in February 2025.

“This is the sixth time that the chancellor asks for the confidence of the parliament,” Scholz explained, speaking in parliament, recalling that Willy Brandt, Helmut Kohl, and Gerhard Schroeder had already addressed parliament in the past, knowing that they did not have a majority to go to early elections, “and this is also my goal.”

Now the chancellor will have to go to President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and ask him to dissolve parliament and then call elections.

This government came to power in 2021, and Scholz was supported by the so-called “traffic light” majority consisting of his party, the Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens, and the Liberals (FDP). The majority was never particularly compact and deflated in November when Liberal leader Christian Lindner was ousted as finance minister. Without liberals, Scholz no longer had the ability to govern.

The vote of confidence was 207 in favor of Scholz, 394 against, and 116 abstentions. Among the latter were the six Greens, who chose the third option to avoid the situation when a positive vote by AfD MPs could undermine the vote of no confidence the chancellor is seeking. The right-wing group is rumored to have voted for Scholz in order to keep German politics under control and have more time to prepare an election campaign.

Instead, things went according to plan, and Germany will vote on February 23, 2025.