German President Dissolves Parliament, Setting National Election Seven Months Ahead of Schedule
Allison Bennett
Staff Writer
On December 27, 2024, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier dissolved the country’s parliament, calling for a snap election on February 23, 2025, after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-way coalition collapsed three years into its mandate. According to The Guardian, the national vote will come seven months ahead of schedule amid political turmoil for Germany, the European Union’s top economic power, as they handle a rocky stretch of flatlining growth rates, a crisis in the industry, and the far-right on the rise.
On December 16, 2024, Scholz, a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who currently leads a minority government, lost a confidence vote after his already unpopular three-party coalition collapsed after he fired his finance minister, Christian Linder, in a dispute over how to revitalize Germany’s stagnant economy. Reuters reports that with the departure of Linder, the Free Democrats left the coalition, leaving it without a legislative majority.
Steinmeier claims that the decision was made because it became clear to party leaders that there was no agreement among Germany’s political parties on a majority for a new government in the current parliament, The Associated Press reports. During his announcement in Berlin, he said, “It is precisely in difficult times like these that stability requires a government capable of taking action and a reliable majority in parliament. Therefore, I am convinced that for the good of our country, new elections are the right way.”
ABC NEWS reports that since the post-World War II constitution did not allow the Bundestag to dissolve itself, it was up to Steinmeier to decide whether to dissolve parliament and call for an election. The president had 21 days to make the decision, with the election needing to be held within 60 days once parliament is dissolved. This is only the fourth time that the Bundestag has been dissolved ahead of schedule under the current constitution, happening previously in 1972, 1982, and 2005.
The president has called for the upcoming election campaigns to be conducted fairly and transparently, warning of “foreign influence,” specifically referring to social media platform X, formerly called Twitter, according to Al Jazeera. President Steinmeier further emphasized in his speech that problem-solving must become the core business of politics again, reminding voters and political parties that the next government will have to face the challenges of the “wars in the Middle East and Ukraine” and “economically unstable situations,” as well as debates over climate change and immigration.
The election campaigns are already well underway, with polls showing Scholz’s party trailing the conservative opposition Union bloc led by Friedrich Merz. The remaining partner in Scholz’s government, Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck of the environmentalist Greens, is also in the running, with his party further behind. The populist party, Alternative for Germany(AfD), which is also polling strongly, has nominated Alice Weidel as its candidate for chancellor. The polls suggest that the conservative challenger Merz, who claims the incumbent government stifled growth with excessive regulations, will replace Scholz.
Germany’s electoral system traditionally produces coalitions, with polls showing no party near an absolute majority on its own. Many mainstream parties refuse to govern with the AfD, which is positioned slightly ahead of the SPD in polls. AfD’s presence is complicating parliamentary arithmetic, making shaky coalitions more likely. Party leaders, like Merz, have ruled out working with the Afd, leaving politicians to believe the party has no chance of taking the job due to other parties’ refusal.
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