German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has dissolved the country’s parliament, confirming that early elections will be held on February 23 triggered by the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government.
Delivering a speech at Berlin’s Bellevue Palace on Friday, Steinmeier said that the country required “a government capable of acting” and “reliable majorities in parliament” to maintain stability in “difficult times”.
Scholz, a Social Democrat, lost a vote of confidence in parliament earlier this month following the departure of Finance Minister Christian Lindner. The Liberal Democrats left their strong governing coalition with a legislative majority.
He will remain interim chancellor until a new government is formed, as the country recovers from a fatal vehicle attack at a Christmas market last week that reignited a heated debate over security and immigration.
The suspect Taleb al-Abdulmohse, a 50-year-old Saudi psychiatrist who had lived in Germany for only about 20 years, was a supporter of the popular far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which had promoted Islamophobic views.
The president, whose position is largely ceremonial in the postwar period, called for a fair and transparent election campaign, cautious against “foreign influence,” an express reference to billionaire Elon Musk’s social media platform, X.
“Hatred and violence will have no place in this election campaign, nor denigration nor intimidation. . . all of this is poison for democracy,” Steinmeier said.
He also reminded political parties and the electorate of the difficult situations that the next government will face given the “unstable economic situation” and the “wars in the Middle East and Ukraine”, as well as the debates on immigration and climate change.
Steinmeier emphasised in his speech that problem-solving must become the core business of politics again.
Polls suggest conservative challenger Friedrich Merz, who claims the incumbent government stifled growth with excessive regulations, will replace Scholz.
The polls indicate the conservatives hold a comfortable lead of more than 10 points over Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD).
Mainstream parties have refused to govern with AfD, which is positioned slightly ahead of the SPD in polls, but its presence complicates parliamentary arithmetic, making shaky coalitions more likely.