Berlin: On Wednesday, Al Jazeera reported that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he will ask for a vote of confidence on December 16 that might result in early legislative elections in February.

A week after the fall of his three-party coalition administration, Scholz made the decision in an address to parliament on Wednesday.

Scholz stated, “The date at the end of February has now been set and I am very grateful for that,” adding that he intended to pass important legislation prior to that date, such as constitutional amendments to strengthen the independence of the nation’s highest court from political meddling and financial support for children from low-income families, according to Al Jazeera.

On December 11, Scholz intends to officially submit his request for a vote of confidence, which will be put to a vote by the Bundestag five days later on December 16. At first, Scholz had wanted to have early elections by the end of March, before the normal poll in September 2025.

According to Al Jazeera, party leaders agreed on two dates for the vote of confidence in December and the elections on February 23 after the center-right Christian opposition pressed for a quicker schedule.

Even though full-scale campaigning usually starts only six weeks before an election in Germany, Scholz and Friedrich Merz, the leaders of the Christian Democrats and the opposition, both started to transition into campaign mode during the session.

Speaking following Scholz, Merz criticized the chancellor, saying that Germany benefited from the coalition’s dissolution. “Our nation is feeling a huge deal of relief. The so-called progressive coalition has been in the past for a week. Merz said, “And that is continuing good news for Germany,” to the cheers of his party members.

“Mr. Chancellor, you are causing division in the nation. You are the cause of these disputes and the split that exists in Germany.You really can’t run a nation like this,” Merz said.
He said that instead of asking for the vote of confidence right now, Scholz was postponing it.