Scholz rejects calls for new elections in Germany
Published: Monday, Jun 10th 2024, 16:30
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has rejected calls for new elections following the miserable performance of the ruling "traffic light" coalition in Berlin in the European elections on Sunday. "The regular election date is next fall, and we plan to implement it that way," said his spokesman Steffen Hebestreit in Berlin on Monday.
Opposition leader Friedrich Merz (CDU), on the other hand, recalled on Monday that Scholz's social democratic predecessor Gerhard Schröder had called new elections in 2005 after the SPD had lost a state election in North Rhine-Westphalia. CSU party leader and Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder called on Scholz to resign and call new elections. "Olaf Scholz is King Olaf without a country," said Söder. AfD leader Alice Weidel said that the Chancellor should follow the example of French President Emmanuel Macron and clear the way for new elections.
Merz's CDU and Söder's all-Bavarian CSU, which always run together in national elections, were by far the strongest force in Germany on Sunday with a combined 30.0% of the vote. The chancellor's party, the SPD, plummeted to 13.9%, its worst result ever in a national election. With 11.9 percent for the Greens and 5.2 percent for the FDP, the "traffic light" coalition only achieved a total of 31 percent.
There are various reasons for the unpopularity of the "traffic light" coalition, which has long been apparent in opinion polls: on the one hand, immigration, which many believe the government is unable to get under control, on the other, energy policy with a controversial law on replacing old heating systems and the constant squabbling between the unequal coalition partners.
The right-wing populist AfD came second with 15.9%. The newly founded left-wing populist alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) gained 6.2%. As there was no threshold clause in the European elections in Germany, various small parties were also able to send MEPs to Strasbourg and Brussels.
Following the defeat of his centrist camp, Macron announced on Sunday evening that parliament would be dissolved and new elections would be held in two rounds on June 30 and July 7. In Germany, this is not possible without further ado. The Bundestag cannot dissolve itself; the prerequisite for early elections would be a vote of confidence by the Federal Chancellor.
In the summer of 2005, a few weeks after losing the NRW elections, Schröders had called a vote of confidence in the Bundestag and lost. Federal President Horst Köhler then dissolved the Bundestag. Schröder narrowly lost the Bundestag election in September, which was brought forward by a year, against the then opposition leader Angela Merkel (CDU). Schröder's actions were highly controversial, however, because it was widely believed to be a fictitious vote of confidence - similar to that of Chancellor Helmut Kohl (CDU) in 1982/1983.
Kohl had come into office in 1982 through a constructive vote of no confidence in the Bundestag and wanted to gain greater legitimacy through a new election - which succeeded with a result of 48.8 percent for the CDU/CSU at the time.
The Greens declared on Monday that their poor performance was no reason for them to question the "traffic light" coalition. "There is no need for a vote of confidence," said co-party leader Omid Nouripour. A four-year agreement had been concluded with the SPD and FDP, which would be adhered to. FDP leader Christian Lindner expressed similar sentiments.
Merz said that the victory in the European elections gave the Christian Democrats a tailwind. He drew particular attention to the upcoming state election campaigns in eastern Germany, where elections will be held in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg in September. The fact that the right-wing populist AfD had become the strongest force in the European elections in the east was a major challenge for all parties, said Merz.
According to current polls, the AfD would win the elections in the three eastern states. The party, which was founded in 2013 and is classified by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a suspected right-wing extremist party, is benefiting above all from resentment about immigration. Its call to stop supplying weapons to Ukraine and to end sanctions against Russia is particularly popular in eastern Germany. She also made gains in the local elections in the east on Sunday. However, Merz pointed out on Monday that she did not win any of the local by-elections in Thuringia.
©Keystone/SDA
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