Germany: President dissolves Bundestag and sets date for early elections

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier announced on Friday the dissolution of the Federal Parliament (Bundestag) and set February 23 as the date for early elections in the country, in response to a request from Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

This is the date agreed upon by the leaders of the parliamentary blocs of Scholz’s Social Democratic Party and the Christian Alliance, which consists of the Christian Democratic Party and its younger sister, the Bavarian Christian Social Union.

Scholz lost a confidence vote in the Bundestag on December 16 in a move that was expected after the collapse of the ruling coalition of the Social Democrats, the Greens and the Free Democratic Party in November, which is the ruling coalition had been formed about three years ago.

After losing the vote of confidence, the German Chancellor asked the President of the State to dissolve Bundestag in accordance with Article 68 of the German Constitution.

Steinmeier then held consultations with the heads of parliamentary blocs and parties represented in the Bundestag to explore the possibility of forming a stable political majority for the current government, but no solutions were reached in this endeavor.

Article 68 of the German Constitution states that the Federal President may dissolve the Bundestag on the Chancellor’s motion if it loses a vote of confidence, within 21 days of the motion being submitted.

Article 39 states that early elections must be held within 60 days of the Bundestag dissolution.

It’s noteworthy that the vote of confidence proposed by Scholz was the sixth of its kind in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany, and three of them resulted in the dissolution of parliament.