German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier announced the dissolution of the Bundestag on Friday.
The German president said at a press conference in Berlin:
“Today I have decided to dissolve the twentieth parliament and schedule elections for February 23 next year.”
He specified that he consulted with the faction leaders of all parliamentary parties before the final decision. Steinmeier concluded that neither the current nor the new cabinet will get a majority in the current parliament.
The proposal to dissolve parliament was sent to the president of Germany by Chancellor Olaf Scholz after a vote of no confidence on December 16. Only 207 of the 717 MPs present supported the current head of the cabinet.
Scholz was pleased with the parliamentary vote of no confidence. According to him, the coalition that has ruled the country for the past three years has had too many disputes, and therefore it was long overdue to “gather strength and put an end to it.”
There are five candidates for the head of the German government: Scholz from the Social Democratic Party of Germany and his main opponent Friedrich Merz from the CDU/CSU bloc, Economy Minister and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck from the “Greens,” one of the leaders of the Alternative for Germany Alice Weidel and Sarah Wagenknecht from the Sarah Wagenknecht Union.
On November 7, Steinmeier resigned German Finance Minister Christian Lindner. Justice Minister Marco Buschmann and Education and Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger also lost their posts.
