November 12, 2024 09:47 GMT
GERMANY: 23 Feb Proposed For Snap Federal Election-Handelsblatt
GERMANY
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Handelsblatt reporting that lawmakers from Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD), Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck's Greens, and the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) have agreed on 23 February as the date for a snap general election according to unnamed CDU insiders. As part of the agreement, Scholz will call a confidence vote in the Bundestag on 18 December.
- The report suggests the SPD parliamentary executive group supports 23 Feb as a date. The CDU's Federal Executive Board will meet this evening to 'discuss further action'.
- The final decision on the date of the election comes down to President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Under the Basic Law, after a gov't fails a confidence vote the Bundestag can be dissolved within 21 days. A snap election then must take place within 60 days.
- The Greens will hold a three-day party conference in Wiesbaden starting on 15 Nov. There, a new party leadership team will be elected while a secret ballot is also set to confirm Habeck as the party's chancellor candidate. In the 2019 federal election, now-Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock stood as the Greens' chancellor candidate, a move that was seen to potentially hinder the party's performance given thatpre-election polling showed Habeck as the more popular figure. Given his prominent role in the unpopular 'traffic light coalition', it remains to be seen whether he can boost the Greens' vote above the 10-12% the party is currently garnering in opinion polling.
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