Scholz Says Ready to Discuss Timing of Snap German Election

(Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz signaled he’s open to discussing the timing of an early election as long as opposition lawmakers back legislation he wants to pass before his term ends.

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After dismantling his coalition with the Greens and Free Democrats on Wednesday and losing his Bundestag majority, Social Democrat Scholz said he was ready to submit to a confidence vote on Jan. 15, the first step in triggering a new national ballot in March.

However, he has come under mounting pressure to agree to an election already in January, with a new poll showing two-thirds of voters want it to happen as soon as possible and business groups calling for an end to political turmoil.

“It would be good if an agreement could now be reached between the democratic parties in the Bundestag about which laws can be passed this year,” Scholz said at a news conference in Budapest, where he’s attending a European Union summit.

Asked twice whether he was now flexible on the Jan. 15 confidence vote, he declined to reiterate his commitment to that specific date.

“For me, we are having a big democratic celebration here, and that works best when everyone comes to the party together,” he told reporters.

Center-right opposition leader Friedrich Merz accused Scholz earlier Friday of seeking to delay the election until March purely for party political advantage.

Merz, who heads the poll-leading CDU/CSU alliance, said the chancellor’s tactics are “irresponsible” given that Europe’s biggest economy urgently needs additional measures to restore meaningful growth.

“We believe that German voters have the right to a stable parliament and, above all, to a stable government,” he said in an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio.

Scholz’s push for a March election raised the prospect of a prolonged period of political stagnation, a situation Germany can ill afford given the scale of the challenges facing its sluggish economy.

Earlier Friday, he faced pressure from within his own party to pave the way for a swift vote.

“We need quick snap elections, in order to get a government that is able to act,” a group of business-friendly Social Democrats said in an emailed statement.

Merz’s center-right alliance is leading in opinion polls with more than 30% of the vote, putting it in prime position to win back the chancellery after it lost to Scholz’s SPD party three years ago.

Backing for the SPD is at about 16% in third place, behind the far-right Alternative for Germany in second with around 17%. The Greens are at about 11% in fourth, while a new far-left party — the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht — is fifth with roughly 8%.

The FDP is polling as low as 3%, down from 11.5% in the 2021 election, putting it in danger of missing the 5% threshold for getting into parliament.

An Infratest Dimap poll for ARD, published late Thursday, showed that 65% of the 1,065 voters surveyed want the election to be held in January. Just under 60% indicated they welcome the demise of Scholz’s coalition.

(Updates with Merz comments starting in seventh paragraph.)

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