BERLIN (AFP) – Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he would be ready to ask for a confidence vote this year to pave the way for snap elections.
Scholz, whose coalition collapsed on Wednesday, said in a TV interview that “for me it would not be a problem” to ask for the parliamentary vote before the holidays, if major parties agree. Previously, he had spoken of a mid-January vote and a late-March election.
“I also want that it happens quickly,” the centre-left leader said, referring to a return to the ballot boxes, in an interview on public broadcaster ARD.
The coalition crisis, rooted in differences over economic and fiscal policy, came to a head late Wednesday when Scholz sacked his rebellious finance minister Christian Lindner of the Free Democrats.
That reduced the unruly three-party coalition government to two parties – Scholz’s Social Democrats and the Greens.
The crisis erupted just as Donald Trump won the White House race with as yet unknown consequences for transatlantic trade.
Scholz’s political rivals have threatened to block his minority government from passing laws unless he immediately seeks a confidence vote.
