The German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, declared himself willing, on Sunday, November 10, under conditions, to submit to a vote of confidence by deputies this year with a view to accelerating the organization of early legislative elections. This statement comes after the breakdown of his government coalition on Wednesday.
“For me it is no problem to raise the question of trust before Christmas” in the Bundestag, if the ruling Social Democratic Party and the conservative opposition agree, Scholz said in an interview with public television ARD. On Wednesday he mentioned the date of January 15 to raise the question of confidence with a view to the legislative elections at the end of March. “I also want this to happen quickly.”declared. “Germany urgently needs a new democratically legitimized government”he added.
Following the vote of confidence, which Scholz is expected to lose as he no longer has a sufficient majority in Parliament, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will have 21 days to dissolve the Bundestag and new elections must be held within 60 days.
Since the explosion, on Wednesday, of the government coalition initially formed by Scholz’s social democrats, environmentalists and liberals, due to deep disagreements over economic policy, pressure has been increasing on the chancellor to quickly organize elections.
Calls for quick organization of elections
Calls have multiplied for legislative elections to be held as soon as possible, while the challenges are numerous for Europe’s largest economy, on the brink of recession and fearing the consequences of a return of Donald Trump to the head of the United States. .
In an interview with the weekly SternConservative chancellorship candidate Friedrich Merz had asked Scholz to request a vote of confidence on Wednesday, the day the chancellor was scheduled to make a government statement in the Bundestag. Merz had also called elections for January 19, while his party leads the polls.
Merz has made a quick vote of confidence in the Bundestag a precondition for his party to lend its support to a series of important bills that Scholz’s government wants to pass in parliament before the election.
On Monday, the federal director of elections, Ruth Brand, will hold a virtual meeting with her regional colleagues, with the aim of studying the organization of the vote.
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According to a survey published on Sunday in the German weekly Bild am Sonntag conducted by the Insa institute, the conservatives remain the largest political force with an unchanged score of 32%, followed by the far-right AfD with 19%. Scholz’s SPD follows, with 15%. The other two members of Scholz’s former coalition are attributed 10% for the Greens and 4% for the Liberals, that is, below the 5% threshold necessary to remain in the Bundestag.
