BERLIN: German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has dissolved parliament ahead of a lower house election scheduled for February 23 after Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government collapsed.
According to a Reuters report, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier announced the dissolution of parliament in Berlin ahead of the early elections, saying that in such dangerous times, there must be a government that plays its role and has a clear majority in parliament.
He said that after the elections, the focus of politics should be on solving problems and the election campaign will be transparent and impartial.
The German president said that external pressure is dangerous for democracy, as we saw recently in the Romanian elections, or openly, which is happening today on social media, especially X.
It should be noted that the German Chancellor had formed a coalition government, but lost confidence earlier this month and her Finance Minister Christian Lindner’s Free Democrats announced their separation from the government coalition.
Olaf Scholz will head the interim government until a new government is formed and elections will be held in the country during his government.
Regarding the elections, the Conservative Party’s graph is seen at the top in surveys, but Friedrich Merz is likely to emerge as the party’s candidate for chancellor instead of Olaf Scholz.
In the polls regarding the German elections, the Conservative Party has a 10-point lead over the Social Democrats (SDP), the right-wing hard-line Alternative for Germany (AfD) has a slight lead over the SPD, and the Greens, which are part of the government coalition, are in fourth place.
The report stated that Germany’s main parties had refused to form a government with the AfD, but despite this, the presence of parliament is making things difficult and the possibility of a weak coalition is being shown.