Berlin, Nov 12, 2024 (AFP)
Germany's conservative opposition said Tuesday that a February "compromise" date for an early election was likely after the dramatic collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government.
Last week the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) withdrew from Scholz's three-way coalition, depriving it of a parliamentary majority and setting off wrangling over the date of an early election.
While Scholz has suggested a timetable which would lead to a general election in late March, the opposition CDU had initially demanded polls in January.
The CDU's general secretary Carsten Linnemann said Tuesday after further talks that he now expected the election to take place on either February 16 or 23.
"It looks like that's how it will end up. That will be a compromise," Linnemann told public broadcaster ZDF.
The CDU is riding high in opinion polls and its leader Friedrich Merz had been pushing for a January election date, but Linnemann admitted that this would be "ambitious".
Linnemann said he expected "we will get clarity very soon, probably in the coming hours."
The precise date will be officially determined once Scholz calls a confidence vote in parliament.
If, as expected, he loses, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will have 21 days to dissolve parliament, and elections will then have to be held within the next 60 days.
Both the opposition and Scholz's coalition partners the Greens have been pushing for a speedier timetable than the one he has put forward.
A recent poll said two thirds of voters also want an election sooner rather than later.
"People are very nervous and don't know where the country is going," Linnemann said.
He added that once there was more clarity on the timetable, "things will calm down and we can go into the election campaign".
Since the FDP's withdrawal last week, Scholz's centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens have carried on in a minority government.
The three parties had been governing together since 2021, the first time that a tripartite coalition had been tried at a federal level in Europe's largest economy.
But mounting differences over economic and fiscal policy came to a head last week when Scholz fired rebellious FDP Finance Minister Christian Linder, prompting the party to leave the government.
Sumber : AFP
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