German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s fragile grip on power became even weaker on Monday when a majority of the country’s 733 lawmakers withdrew their confidence in him, paving the way for an early election that he’s widely expected to lose.

The vote was a necessary step in triggering the snap poll planned by Scholz, which became inevitable after his fractured three-party coalition collapsed last month over sharp disagreements about spending.

“ In such an election, the citizens can then determine the political course of our country,” the center-left chancellor told parliamentarians during a debate before the vote.

While Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) group in parliament confirmed its confidence in the chancellor, the Greens — with whom Scholz is currently ruling in a minority government — abstained so that the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) couldn’t pull a surprise and try to prop him up.

A small number of the AfD’s 76 lawmakers had previously signaled they would vote for the chancellor as they feared his likely successor, Friedrich Merz from the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), could plunge Germany into war by being a stronger backer of Ukraine against Russia than Scholz has been.

Scholz is to meet German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday afternoon, to whom he is expected to propose to dissolve the Bundestag, which the president can do within 21 days. An election would follow within another 60 days.

Ultimately, the decision on when to hold the election rests with Steinmeier. But after the heads of parliament’s major groupings had agreed to hold a federal election on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, Steinmeier is widely expected to follow that timetable.

The last time a German chancellor lost a vote of confidence was in 2005 under then SPD Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, after which the CDU’s Angela Merkel came to lead Germany — and continued to do so for the following 16 years.

Politico

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