Germany braces for elections as parliament dissolved – DW

https://www.dw.com/en/germany-braces-for-elections-as-parliament-dissolved/a-71166875

by h2QZFATVgPQmeYQTwFZn

13 comments

  1. Other sources:

    >German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Friday ordered parliament dissolved and set new elections for Feb. 23 in the wake of the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s governing coalition.

    >Scholz [lost a confidence vote](https://apnews.com/article/germany-scholz-confidence-vote-parliament-election-87c6c0c64726eefaa95d9c46dae611dc) on Dec. 16 and leads a minority government after his unpopular and notoriously rancorous three-party coalition [collapsed on Nov. 6](https://apnews.com/article/germany-scholz-government-struggling-economy-coalition-lindner-1cae2cd0266453103fc89800e47e7ce7) when he fired his finance minister in a dispute over how to revitalize [Germany’s stagnant economy](https://apnews.com/article/germany-government-economy-scholz-trump-8e7f77fe36d711d7192a8c96a4c41353).

    >Leaders of several major parties then agreed that a parliamentary election should be held on Feb. 23, seven months earlier than originally planned.

    >Since the post-World War II constitution doesn’t allow the Bundestag to dissolve itself, it was up to Steinmeier to decide whether to dissolve parliament and call an election. He had 21 days to make that decision. Once parliament is dissolved, the election must be held within 60 days.

    >In practice, the [campaign is already well underway.](https://apnews.com/article/germany-election-scholz-merz-habeck-programs-69a8ab1bdef26764f4f10789b081ef39) Polls show Scholz’s party trailing the conservative opposition Union bloc led by [Friedrich Merz.](https://apnews.com/article/germany-politics-christian-democratic-union-cf1033d27f82a0291e983f3c9a94fb97) Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck of the environmentalist Greens, the remaining partner in Scholz’s government, is also bidding for the top job — though his party is further back. If recent polls hold up, the likely next government would be led by Merz as chancellor in coalition with at least one other party.

    [https://apnews.com/article/germany-election-steinmeier-32a9c393067faac264fae7bb29b3e4ef](https://apnews.com/article/germany-election-steinmeier-32a9c393067faac264fae7bb29b3e4ef)

    German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Friday dissolved the country’s lower house of parliament to pave the way for snap elections on Feb. 23 following the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-way coalition.

    >Scholz lost a confidence vote in parliament earlier this month after the departure of Finance Minister Christian Lindner’s Free Democrats left his government without a legislative majority.

    >The vote also kicked off election campaigning in earnest, with conservative challenger Friedrich Merz, who surveys suggest is likely to replace Scholz, claiming that the incumbent government had imposed excessive regulations and stifled growth.The conservatives have a comfortable lead of more than 10 points over the SPD in most polls. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is slightly ahead of Scholz’s party, while the Greens are in fourth place.The mainstream parties have refused to govern with the AfD, but its presence complicates the parliamentary arithmetic, making unwieldy coalitions more likely.

    [https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/german-president-dissolves-parliament-pave-way-feb-23-snap-elections-2024-12-27/](https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/german-president-dissolves-parliament-pave-way-feb-23-snap-elections-2024-12-27/)

  2. Every EU country is fighting against the far-right, which is backed by Putin…
    The only thing we want is just peace and stability… not oppression…

  3. AfD gonna post their highest-ever result.

    Edit: why all the downvotes for stating an obvious but uncomfortable thing? Censor what you don’t like? I don’t like it either. Censorship ain’t the solution though.

  4. I think the most likely outcome is a grand coalition of CDU/SPD with Merz at the helm. And as long as the russian-bought loonies from AfD are out of power, I’m happy.

  5. BREAKING NEWS: Scheduled event happened according to the announced schedule. BREAKING NEWS

  7. AfD propaganda in full effect. Getting multiple youtube recommendations for AfD videos. Same happening on reddit. And I’m not even German – so I can only imagine the amount of propaganda right now in Germany.

  8. Maybe Germans in this thread could enlighten us: what are the main changes that the CDU want to implement?

  10. Looking at the structural problems of Germany (bad energy policy, lack of investment in key infrastructure and a weak economy) I wonder if the elected coalition will have the guts to reverse the Schuldbremse and start investing money like in infrastructure and tax cuts to reactivate the economy.

    The most important thing is that neither the greens nor the AFD make it to government.

  11. These headlines on german elections have been a tad bit too dramatic.

  12. Not working together with the afd is a problem. They ignore people voting and people will get more mad. Working together and maybe bring them more to the middle, would be better for everybody. They all behave like children and we have to watch.

  13. If Germany will ban TikTok now they will increase a chance for fair elections by at least 99%

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