German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for a vote of confidence in the reduced space of parliament, the Bundestag, on Monday, December 16. He lost it, leading to early parliamentary elections.
Scholz’s center-left tripartite government collapsed on November 6, paving the way for early federal elections on February 23, 2025.
Early elections are incredibly rare in Germany, but they are an important democratic measure. They are governed by the German charter and require the approval of several statutory bodies, including the head of state, the president.
According to the German constitution, a decision to hold an early federal election cannot be made by the members of the Bundestag, nor by the chancellor. An early dissolution of parliament can only come about in one of 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 this case, a chancellor can request a vote of confidence in the Bundestag to check whether he still has sufficient parliamentary support. If the chancellor fails to obtain a majority, he can officially 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 continued his Cold War approach to facilitate relations with the Eastern European socialist bloc, a movement that was highly debatable in West Germany. Major divisions arose in the government, leading to the departure of several deputies. of the SPD and the FDP of the Bundestag. The majority of the government was especially reduced and Brandt’s help was equal to that of the opposition conservatives, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Socialist Regional Union of Bavaria (CSU): each had 248 representatives in the Bundestag.
That stalemate paralyzed proceedings, so Brandt sought a solution. On June 24, 1972, he stated that “the citizens” had a “right to ensure that legislation does not come to a standstill.” He also said there was a growing danger “that the opposition will fundamentally refuse to cooperate constructively. Therefore, I am announcing that we are seeking new elections.”
Brandt called for a vote of confidence in the Bundestag with the aim of wasting it, so that his chancellorship may just be reconfirmed through electorate in new elections. The move fiercely criticized, adding through constitutionalists who argued that the Deliberate loss of a vote of confidence not in accordance 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 for 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, was responsible for the second early Bundestag election, in 1983. Kohl assumed power following a constructive vote of confidence in the then Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (SPD), in October 1982. The majority of parliamentarians had withdrawn their confidence in Schmidt due to differences over his economic and security policy.
Since the Kohl CDU/CSU and FDP coalition came to force 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 17 December 1982, leading to the dissolution of the Bundestag. Kohl said at the time: “I have opened the way for new elections to stabilise the government and achieve a transparent majority in the Bundestag. “
Some Bundestag members found that unacceptable and filed a complaint with the Federal Constitutional Court. After 41 days of hearings, the Karlsruhe judges approved Kohl’s path to a new election by a deliberate vote of no confidence. However, they emphasized that a vote of confidence was only permissible during a “genuine” crisis.
The next election, held on 6 March 1983, showed Kohl as chancellor and his government able to continue with a transparent majority.
Gerhard Schröder of the SPD ran the third early election in Germany in 2005. At the time he was chancellor and headed a coalition with the Greens.
The SPD was suffering after a series of defeats in regional elections and a relegation in the Bundestag. The reduction was basically due to the questionable reforms of Schröder’s Agenda 2010, which had radically replaced the social formula and the labor market. Schröder called for a vote of confidence, which he intentionally lost on July 1, 2005, thus triggering new elections.
“I am firmly convinced that the majority of Germans need me to continue down this path. But I can only achieve clarity through new elections,” Schröder said after the vote.
But his calculation failed. The snap elections of 18 September 2005 gave Angela Merkel’s CDU/CSU a narrow majority. He became chancellor and headed a coalition led by the CDU/CSU and supported by the SPD. It is the beginning of Angela Merkel’s 16 years in office.
This article was originally written in German. It was first released on October 16, 2024, and has been updated with the latest developments.
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