Investing.com – German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier dissolved the national parliament and scheduled early elections for February 23. The move officially supports the plan proposed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who ended his ruling coalition last month.
Schulz, a Social Democrat, ended his three-party alliance with the Green Party and the Free Democrats after he sacked FDP Finance Minister Christian Lindner over a dispute over government borrowing. The unexpected action left Schulz without a majority in the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament, and paved the way for national elections seven months before the end of his four-year term.
With less than two months until the election, the main opposition conservatives, led by Friedrich Merz, are leading significantly in the opinion polls. Schulz's Social Democratic Party currently occupies third place, behind the far-right Alternative for Germany party, while the Green Party occupies fourth place.
The Green Party currently has about 13% of the vote, while the Free Democratic Party led by Lindner faces the risk of not reaching the 5% threshold required for inclusion in Parliament, whose support rate currently stands at 4%.
Lars Klingbeil, co-leader of the SPD, said he believed the party could begin to close the gap to the Conservatives in January and still have the potential to emerge as the strongest party again. During the previous election in 2021, the SPD secured nearly 26% of the vote in the final weeks of the campaign, besting the CDU/CSU, which received 24%.
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