The German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, asked on Monday, December 16, for a vote of confidence in the small space of Parliament, the Bundestag. He lost it, prompting early legislative elections.
Scholz’s center-left tripartite government collapsed on November 6, paving the way for early federal elections on February 23, 2025.
Early elections have been extremely rare in Germany, but they are a vital democratic measure. They are regulated by the German constitution and require the approval of several constitutional bodies, not least of the head of state, the president.
According to the German Constitution, the decision to organize early federal elections must be made through the members of the Bundestag or the Chancellor. An early dissolution of Parliament can only take place in two ways.
In the first case, if a candidate for chancellor does not win an absolute parliamentary majority — at least 367 votes in the 733-seat Bundestag — the German president can dissolve the parliament. This has never happened in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany.
In the second case, a chancellor can call for a vote of confidence in the Bundestag to confirm whether he or she still has sufficient parliamentary support. If the chancellor fails to win a majority, he or she can formally ask the president to dissolve the Bundestag within 21 days.
Following the dissolution of parliament, an election must be held within 60 days. They are organized in the same way as normal general elections, with the federal returning officer and the Federal Interior Ministry responsible for their implementation.
Three early Bundestag elections have been held to date in the Federal Republic of Germany: in 1972, 1983 and 2005.
Willy Brandt, first chancellor of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), in coalition with the neoliberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) since 1969. His “Ostpolitik” (eastward policy) led to a vote of confidence in 1972.
Brandt had pushed ahead with his policy of rapprochement during the Cold War to ease relations with the socialist Eastern European bloc, a highly controversial move in West Germany. Major splits emerged within the government, causing several SPD and FDP Bundestag lawmakers to quit. The government’s majority was dramatically reduced, and Brandt’s support fell to parity with the opposition conservatives, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the regional Bavarian Christian Socialist Union (CSU): each side had 248 representatives in the Bundestag.
This impasse paralyzed the procedure and Brandt sought a solution. On June 24, 1972, he declared that “citizens” had “the right not to have the right paralyzed. ” He also said there is a growing danger “that the opposition will fundamentally refuse to cooperate constructively. That is why I say we seek new elections. “
Brandt asked for a vote of confidence in the Bundestag with the aim of wasting it, so that his chancellorship could be reconfirmed by the electorate in new elections. The measure was harshly criticized, particularly by constitutionalists who argued that intentionally wasting a vote of confidence was not in line with the spirit of the Constitution, the Basic Law.
Brandt stuck to his plan and called a vote of confidence on September 20, 1972, and lost, as he had predicted. This prepared the dissolution of the Bundestag and new elections, which took place on November 19, 1972.
Brandt was re-elected chancellor and the SPD obtained 45. 8% of the vote, its most productive result to date. Voter turnout is the highest ever recorded in a Bundestag election: 91. 1%.
Helmut Kohl of the CDU, guilty for the moment of the early elections of the Bundestag in 1983. Kohl gained strength after a constructive vote of confidence in then-Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (SPD) in October 1982. Most of the parliamentarians had withdrawn their confidence in him. Schmidt because of differences over his economic and security policy.
As the coalition of Kohl CDU/CSU and FDP came to power through a vote of confidence and not a general election, Kohl sought greater legitimacy through a general election. He asked for a vote of confidence, which he also intentionally lost on December 17, 1982. Kohl said at the time: “I have paved the way for new elections to stabilise the government and obtain a transparent majority in the Bundestag. “
Some members of the Bundestag found this unacceptable and filed a complaint with the Federal Constitutional Court. After 41 days of hearings, judges in Karlsruhe approved Kohl’s path to new elections with a planned vote of no confidence. They stressed, however, that a vote of confidence is only legal in the event of a “real” crisis.
The subsequent election held on March 6, 1983, confirmed Kohl as chancellor, and his government was able to carry on with a clear majority.
The SPD’s Gerhard Schröder initiated Germany’s third early election in 2005. He was chancellor at the time, heading a coalition with the Greens.
The SPD was in trouble after a series of defeats in regional elections and a relegation in the Bundestag. The decline was basically due to the questionable reforms of Schröder’s Agenda 2010, which had radically replaced the social formula and the hard work market. Schröder called for a vote of confidence, which he intentionally lost on July 1, 2005, leading to new elections.
“I am firmly convinced that the majority of Germans need me to continue on this path. But I can only achieve clarity through new elections,” Schröder said after the vote.
But his calculation went wrong. Early elections, held on September 18, 2005, gave Angela Merkel’s CDU/CSU a narrow majority. He became chancellor and headed a coalition led by the CDU/CSU and supported through the SPD. That’s the start of Merkel’s 16 years in office.
This article was originally written in German. It was first published on October 16, 2024 and has been updated with the latest news.
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