Germany chancellor calls confidence vote in himself, loses, snap election set for Feb. 2025

Germany is set to hold a snap election next year after its parliament accepted Chancellor Olaf Scholz's invitation to withdraw its confidence in him and his government on Monday (Dec. 16).

Budget dispute

His three-party coalition collapsed in November in a budget dispute, leaving him without a parliamentary majority, Reuters and CNN reported.

394 voted against Scholz, 207 voted in favour, and 116 abstained from voting.

In Germany, the president can only dissolve a parliament and call for an election if the chancellor calls for and loses a confidence vote.

The election date is set on Feb. 23, 2025.

This is the country's fourth snap election in the 75 years since modern state was founded, according to The New York Times.

Coalition

Scholz will still lead the caretaker government until a new government can be formed.

There will be seven major parties Germans can vote for during the election.

Coalition governments tend to form, usually headed by two dominant parties— the Christian Democrats (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Social Democrats (SPD).

Scholz's government consisted of a coalition between SPD, Free Democrats Party (FDP) and the Green Party.

In the upcoming election, CDU/CSU will be led by Friedrich Merz, while SPD will be led by Scholz.

Election campaign

CDU/CSU is leading in the opinion polls with 32 per cent. The far-right Alternative for Deutschland party (AfD) is in second place with 18 per cent, SPD in third with 16 per cent, and the Greens with 14 per cent.

The election campaign is likely to be dominated by issues such as reviving the struggling economies, bridging growing social divide, and address issues such as immigration and national defence.

If given a second term, Scholz said he would invest in the country's infrastructure instead of making spending cuts.

Top image via Olaf Scholz/X