Germanys political landscape is changing fast after its center-left government broke down last week (the coalition didnt manage to keep working together). The two biggest political forces - the ruling Social Democrats and the opposition Christian Democratic Union-Christian Social Union block made a quick deal to fix the situation
The parties met on nov/12 and agreed to hold new nation-wide elections on feb/23/25; this decision came from inside sources who wanted to stay un-named because they werent allowed to talk about it in public. The fast-track election schedule shows how both sides want to move forward - its quite unusual to set up voting so quickly
The current ruling party (SPD) had to talk with the CDU/CSU opposition block to work out all voting details: they managed to find common ground on timing and organization which means the country wont face any long-term political uncertainty