Germany Snap Elections Expected For February

Deutsche Welle

12 Nov 2024, 18:33

Photo: Fabian Sommer/dpa/picture alliance

Media reports say Germany's biggest political parties have reached agreement on a timetable leading towards a snap election after the governing coalition collapsed last week.

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Unnamed sources told German news agencies that Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) have agreed on an election date with the conservative CDU.

Germany's governing coalition collapsed last week, leading to Scholz calling for a vote of confidence expected for mid-December.

Scholz's minority government is widely expected to lose the parliamentary vote, leading to a snap election.

Far-right AfD looks to capitalize on snap election
The Alternative for Germany party (AfD) is eager for things to proceed quickly, now that Germany's governing coalition has collapsed.

"Chancellor Scholz has long lost the trust of the German people and he must clear the way for a new election immediately," Alice Weidel, co-chair of the far-right AfD, put it after the government collapsed last week.

The AfD said that Scholz should face a vote of no confidence and step down "as soon as possible."

The far-right party has fiercely attacked the governing coalition since it first took power at the end of December 2021.

It has criticized the coalition for failing on all policy levels, calling for a radical change, especially in migration and foreign policy. Similar to US President-elect Donald Trump, the party has campaigned hard against irregular migration and open borders.

And it vehemently opposes all arms shipments to Ukraine.

CDU, Green, and voter pressure accelerated the election process
The presumed election date in February is very much in line with the wishes of the opposition CDU, which has pressured Scholz to hold the poll as early as possible.

The CDU under its leader, Friedrich Merz, is currently enjoying good popularity ratings amid widespread dissatisfaction with a coalition government whose constant infighting seemed to prevent it from effective decision-making.

The Greens, another partner in the three-way coalition, had also called on Scholz, who initially suggested an election in late March, to speed up the process.

German voters also appear to be in favor of getting the elections behind them, with a recent poll showing two-thirds wanting the poll sooner rather than later.

The collapse of the German government comes at a time when strong leadership from the biggest European economy would seem highly necessary amid numerous geopolitical and environmental challenges.

Germany parliamentary leaders agree on election date, sources say
Germany will hold snap general elections on February 23 following the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's center-left coalition, according to parliamentary sources speaking to DPA and AFP news agencies on Tuesday.

The sources said parliamentary leaders from Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) and the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) reached an agreement on the date on Tuesday.

Scholz is expected to call a vote of confidence in the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, on December 16 to enable the election to be held.

The collapse of the three-way ruling coalition was triggered by Scholz's firing of his finance minister, Christian Lindner, from the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), which led to the FDP's withdrawal from the government.

The FDP pullout left Scholz without a majority in the Bundestag.

What was Scholz's 'traffic light' coalition?
A "traffic light" coalition in Germany includes the center-left SPD (represented by red), the business-focused Free Democrats (FDP — represented by yellow), and the environmentalist Greens.

The traffic light coalition formed under Scholz in 2021 is just one example.

Germany's 2021 general election saw the SPD emerging as the biggest party in Germany's lower house, the Bundestag, ahead of its main rival, the conservative CDU/CSU union.

The SPD had shared power as a junior coalition partner with conservatives in a so-called "grand coalition" for three terms during Chancellor Angela Merkel's 16 years in office.

Three years ago, both parties ruled out the possibility of a similar, if reversed situation with the conservatives as junior. Instead, the political pendulum swung toward the traffic light coalition.

It was on EU, foreign, and security policy that the three parties seem to be most aligned. However, there were always fundamental differences in the parties' domestic platforms.

The FDP was against the SPD and Greens' plan to raise taxes on the wealthiest to deal with the pandemic and the resulting national debt.

Lindner's liberals appear also at odds with both parties' climate policy, which envisions a stronger government hand. Instead, the FDP wanted market-driven solutions to the climate crisis.

More recently, the three parties remained deeply divided over next year's budget and the steps required to fix the country's ailing economy.

How did Germany's governing coalition collapse?
Representatives of the three parties making up Germany's center-left government — the SPD, the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP), and the Greens — met for a crisis meeting on Wednesday last week. It lasted only two hours.

The coalition partners no longer had much to say to each other.

Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the FDP proposed early elections, but Scholz refused and dismissed Lindner from office.

From the time the coalition began to govern in 2021, the FDP consistently rebelled against the more interventionist policies of its partners.

Things came to a head during recent budget discussions, where the FDP's opposition to higher borrowing to finance its partners' climate and social policy goals and boost the economy caused a stalemate.

That led to the sacking of Lindner, which in turn triggered the withdrawal of his party from the coalition.

The now two-way coalition has since governed as a minority government that has to seek opposition support to pass any laws.

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