German Chancellor Olaf Scholz loses confidence vote [View all]
Source: BBC
28 minutes ago
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has lost a vote of confidence in parliament, paving the way for early elections on 23 February. Scholz called Monday's vote and had expected to lose it, but calculated that triggering an early election was his best chance of reviving his party's political fortunes.
It comes around two months after the collapse of Scholz's three-party coalition government, which left the embattled chancellor leading a minority administration. Ahead of Monday's vote, Scholz said it would now be up to voters to "determine the political course of our country", teeing up what is likely to be a fiercely fought election campaign.
However, losing Monday's no-confidence vote was the outcome Scholz wanted. Since his argumentative three-party governing coalition collapsed in November, he had been reliant on support from the opposition conservatives to pass any new laws, effectively rendering his administration a lame-duck government.
Given Germany's stalled economy and the global crises facing the West, staggering on until the scheduled election date of September 2025 risked being seen as irresponsible by the electorate.
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg36pp6dpyo
= new reply since forum marked as read