Federal President clears the way for new elections in Germany
Published: Friday, Dec 27th 2024, 12:40
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German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has dissolved the Bundestag, paving the way for his re-election. This is to take place on February 23 next year, as Steinmeier announced in Berlin.
He was reacting to the collapse of the "traffic light" coalition in November and the loss of the vote of confidence by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in the Bundestag.
Political stability is a valuable asset in Germany; the dissolution of the Bundestag before the end of the legislative period and early elections are the exception, said Steinmeier at Bellevue Palace in Berlin. "But especially in difficult times like now, stability requires a government capable of acting and reliable majorities in parliament."
"New elections now the right way forward"
"According to the vote on the vote of confidence, the current government no longer has a majority, but I have not been able to identify any majorities for a differently composed government in the talks either. I am therefore convinced that new elections are now the right way forward for the good of our country," said Steinmeier. The Basic Law had made provisions for this situation. The Bundestag will continue to work until a new Bundestag has been constituted. "Our democracy works, even in times of transition."
"Traffic light" exit and lost vote of confidence
On December 16th, Scholz had tabled a vote of confidence in the Bundestag after the "traffic light" coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP broke apart in November after just under three years in a dispute over the budget. As he had intended, Scholz did not receive a majority for his motion. He then asked Steinmeier to dissolve the Bundestag in order to clear the way for a new election.
Federal President is master of the proceedings
According to Article 68 of the Basic Law, the Federal President can dissolve the Bundestag within 21 days at the suggestion of the Federal Chancellor if the latter loses the vote of confidence. Article 39 stipulates that a new election must then be held within 60 days. The national parliament cannot dissolve itself in Germany.
Steinmeier took only 11 days to make his decision. However, following the Bundestag's decision on the vote of confidence, he first held talks with the leaders of the parliamentary groups and factions. In this way, he wanted to find out whether there was still a way to achieve a stable political majority in the Bundestag.
Early dissolution of the Bundestag is an exception
The premature dissolution of the Bundestag is the absolute exception in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany. Scholz's vote of confidence was only the sixth since 1949. In three cases, the parliamentary term subsequently ended prematurely. This was the case for Chancellors Willy Brandt (SPD) in 1972, Helmut Kohl (CDU) in 1982 and Gerhard Schröder (SPD) in 2005.
Schröder had already called a vote of confidence in 2001, but not in order to lose it. Rather, he wanted to get the backing of his partly recalcitrant red-green coalition for the participation of the Bundeswehr in the anti-terror fight in Afghanistan.
Helmut Schmidt's (SPD) vote of confidence in 1982 was similarly disciplinary, as he wanted to force the SPD/FDP coalition to agree to his security and labor market policies. Both SPD chancellors won the vote of confidence and the Bundestag was not dissolved.
Parties face intense winter election campaign
The parties are already preparing intensively for the new election. There will hardly be any free weekends for the campaigners until election day. The SPD and AfD, for example, want to finalize their candidates for chancellor and adopt their election manifestos on the weekend of 11/12 January. The Greens will hold their party conference on January 26, the CDU on February 3, the CSU on February 8 and the FDP on February 9.
On February 9, the first televised duel between SPD Chancellor Scholz and his CDU challenger Friedrich Merz will take place on ARD and ZDF. A week later, RTL has invited the two rivals to the television studio. The last session of the Bundestag before the election is also likely to be an election campaign battle - the general debate will take place on February 11.
Lawsuits against the dissolution of the Bundestag rather unlikely
So far, there is no indication that MPs will take the dissolution of the Bundestag to the Federal Constitutional Court. After the dissolution of parliament in 1982 and 2005, individual politicians who felt their rights as MPs had been violated did so. However, they were unsuccessful. Kohl and Schröder each had a majority in the Bundestag and only wanted to force new elections with their fictitious and therefore highly controversial vote of confidence. Although Scholz also wanted to do this, he had actually lost his majority with the break-up of the coalition.
New Bundestag will be considerably smaller
Regardless of the outcome of the election, one thing is certain: the new Bundestag in Germany will be composed very differently to the previous one. Above all, it will be much smaller. This is because the "traffic light" coalition's electoral law reform, which is now taking effect, will limit the number of seats to 630. This will be achieved primarily through the elimination of so-called overhang and compensatory mandates. For comparison: in 2021, 735 MPs were still elected to the Bundestag via the complicated German electoral system.
©Keystone/SDA
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