BERLIN
\nPresident Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Friday dissolved Germany\u2019s lower house of parliament to pave the way for snap elections on February 23 following the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz\u2019s three-way coalition.
\n\u201cEspecially in difficult times, like now, stability requires a government capable of acting, and reliable majorities in parliament,\u201d which was why early elections were the right way forward for Germany, Steinmeier said in Berlin.
\nAfter the elections, problem-solving must become the core business of politics again, added Steinmeier in a speech.
\nThe president, whose post has been largely ceremonial in the post-war era, also called for the election campaign to be conducted fairly and transparently.
\n\u201cExternal influence is a danger to democracy, whether it is covert, as was evidently the case recently in the Romanian elections, or open and blatant, as is currently being practiced particularly intensively on (social media) platform X,\u201d he said.
\nScholz, a Social Democrat who will head a caretaker government until a new one can be formed, lost a confidence vote in parliament earlier this month after the departure of Finance Minister Christian Lindner\u2019s Free Democrats left his unwieldy governing coalition without a legislative majority.
\nThe vote also kicked off election campaigning in earnest, with conservative challenger Friedrich Merz, who surveys suggest is likely to replace Scholz, asserting that the incumbent government had imposed excessive regulations and stifled growth.
\nThe conservatives hold a comfortable lead of more than 10 points over the Social Democrats (SPD) in most polls.
\nThe far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is slightly ahead of the SPD, while the Greens, a coalition partner, are in fourth place.
\nThe mainstream parties have refused to govern with the AfD, but its presence complicates the parliamentary arithmetic, making shaky coalitions more likely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BERLIN President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Friday dissolved Germany\u2019s lower house of parliament to pave the way for snap elections on February 23 following the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz\u2019s three-way coalition. \u201cEspecially in difficult times, like now, stability requires a government capable of acting, and reliable majorities in parliament,\u201d which was why early elections were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452091,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-452063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n