German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he’ll ask for a vote of confidence in December

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has announced that he will ask for a vote of confidence on Dec. 16, paving the way forward for an early parliamentary election in February.

Scholz declared his plans for a vote of confidence during a speech in parliament on Wednesday, one week after his three-party coalition government collapsed.

He had initially wanted to have an early election only by late March — before the vote that is regularly scheduled for September 2025.

However, the center-right Christian opposition pushed for a quicker vote in the parliament to speed up the next election.