The head of the German government, the social democrat Olaf Scholzlost a vote of confidence on Monday to the Bundestag (lower house of parliament), paving the way for the holding of early general elections on February 23.
The motion of confidence raised by Scholz himself was rejected by 394 legislators, compared to 207 who supported itwhile 116 abstained.
The result was expected, since the breakup last month of the tripartite coalition that supported his government.
The deputies who reaffirmed their confidence in Scholz belong to the Social Democratic Party (SPD) of the chancellor, but also at least one deputy from the far-right Alternative for Germany (Afd), which considered that it is worse that the leader of the Christian Democratic opposition comes to power, Friedrich Merzwhich leads the polls.
Los Verdeswhich have 117 deputies in the Chamber, had announced that they would abstain to ensure that the chancellor lost the vote and Parliament could be dissolved.
Last November, Scholz had already announced his intention to lose this Monday’s vote. when the coalition broke up socialdemocrats, verdes y liberals who presided and the latter were expelled, leaving a Minority government.
In his speech prior to the vote, the chancellor raised the early elections as a referendum on the government’s economic policy at a time when the recession is deepening in Germany and increases global uncertainty.
So, advocated allowing greater state debt with which finance massive investments in infrastructure and securityto relaunch the economy and at the same time guarantee the protection of the country against the threat coming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“We have to activate the lever, and we have to do it now”he stated, after pointing out that citizens must decide whether to invest in the economy “with strength and determination or in a petty and hesitant way”.
In his reply, Merz accused the chancellor of not having kept his promises on the modernization of the Army as a result of the war in Ukraine and having plunged the country into an economic crisis, the solution to which cannot be by mortgaging the future of future generations with more debt, he said.
After losing the vote, Scholz headed to Bellevue Palace to meet with the president of the Federal Republic of Germany, Frank Walter Steinmeierto ask him to dissolve Parliament.
This You have until January 6 to make a decision and it is planned to carry out beforehand, even though it is a mere formality, a round of contacts with the heads of the democratic parties.
The Constitution provides that a maximum of two months elapse between the dissolution of Parliament and the date of the new elections, but the date on which all political forces work, agreed upon by the Government and the opposition, precisely at the request of Steinmeier, is that of the February 23.
