Germany is headed to early elections, after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a vote of confidence in parliament on Monday.
The elections are set to take place on February 23. The German Chancellor headed a minority government after a three-party coalition collapsed in November. His lame-duck government passed bills in the Bundestag (German Parliament) through the support of conservative MPs.
Scholz had called the confidence vote expecting he would lose, with analysts suggesting he wanted to turn a new leaf in his party in the hope of revitalizing his party’s prospects and preventing a total crash at the polls.
German newspaper Bild described the decision by the leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to stage a vote he knew he would lose as a “kamikaze” move in order to dissolve his own government.
The party of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is trailing heavily in opinion polls, while the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) under Friedrich Merz appears to be on course for a return to government.
Opening the debate, Scholz said the snap election was an opportunity to set a new course for the country and called for “massive” investment, particularly in defence, while Merz said more debt would be a burden for younger generations and promised tax cuts.
with info from BBC
