German political shake-up leads to winter election announcement
German leaders agreed on February election date after recent government break-up. **Olaf Scholz** keeps temporary control while dealing with key laws about court system and foreign support
The German political scene faces a big change-up as top-level talks set new elections for 02/23/24 (eleven weeks after the three-party alliance fell apart)
Olaf Scholz leads a smaller team now working with the Green party‚ while trying to push through some must-do tasks: protecting the high court from far-right influence and keeping money flowing to Ukraine. “Its important that we get new elections as soon as possible“ Carsten Linnemann from the opposition told TV viewers
The choice of late-February voting came after some back-and-forth between parties — Friedrich Merz and his team wanted a quick January vote pointing to economic issues and Donald Trumpʼs possible comeback in US politics. But Scholz said no: the holiday season and winter sickness would make it too hard for voting offices
To start the election process Scholz needs to lose an on-purpose parliament vote (maybe happening mid-december); this comes after his government split up when the free-market Free Democrats wanted big money-cuts that left-wing partners didnt accept
