German Chancellor Scholz loses confidence vote

As expected, the majority of lawmakers of the German Bundestag voted against Chancellor Olaf Scholz in a scheduled vote of confidence, setting Germany on track for early elections on 23 February.

Scholz had requested the first confidence vote in nearly 20 years last week after his coalition government collapsed in November. The vote is a necessary step to pave the way for snap elections.

According to the roll-call votes, 207 MPs voted in favour of Scholz – falling short of the absolute majority of 367 votes of 733 lower-house lawmakers. Meanwhile, 394 MPs voted against and 116 abstained.

Scholz's infighting-prone coalition lost its majority after the exit of one of his coalition partners, the Free Democrats (FDP/Renew), over a row on economic policy.

The FDP and the opposition parties, including the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU/EPP), were expected to vote against Scholz. The chancellor's own party, the Social Democrats (S&D), which count 207 lawmakers, was set to vote in favour.

The Greens, Scholz's remaining coalition partner, had signalled that they would abstain, which would have helped avoid a scenario in which MPs from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD/ESN) vote for Scholz to foil his early-election plans.

Details on how individual MPs voted are expected later.

Scholz is now expected to ask German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to dissolve the Bundestag so that new elections can be held in February. According to the timeline that Scholz presented after talks with Steinmeier and the opposition, the dissolution is slated for 27 December.

Rare confidence vote in Germany heralds end of Scholz era

If the chancellor loses, as expected, he will face early elections in February.