Earlier vote of confidence?: SPD and Greens want "quick new elections"

Tagesspiegel Earlier vote of confidence?: SPD and Greens want "quick new elections" 36 mins. • 2 minutes reading time The pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz is growing: Even within the ranks of the SPD and Greens, there are calls for the vote of confidence to be asked sooner. In the discussion about the path to new elections to the Bundestag, the SPD and Greens factions want a special public meeting of the Election Review Committee on Tuesday. The aim must be to "discuss with the Federal Election Commissioner when the new election can take place at the earliest from her point of view, based on her practical experience," says a letter of application to Bundestag President Bärbel Bas (SPD), which is available to the German Press Agency in Berlin. The meeting must take place at the requested time in order to "be able to take into account the concerns of the proper preparation and conduct of the election in the ongoing public debate." It is necessary to provide clarity at an early stage about the steps relevant to election preparation and the lead time that is sensible from a technical point of view. "We also want the citizens to be able to vote on a new government soon. However, a federal election must be well prepared, because we cannot risk mishaps and chaos like in the 2021 federal election in Berlin," Johannes Fechner, parliamentary manager of the SPD parliamentary group, told the German Press Agency. "When determining the election date, we must therefore take concerns and advice from the practice of election organization seriously." With the end of the traffic light coalition and the FDP's move from the government to the opposition, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has lost his majority in parliament. According to current plans, he wants to ask the question of confidence in the Bundestag on January 15. The new election could take place in March. The opposition is urgently demanding that the date for the federal election be brought forward significantly. The Chancellor has signaled his willingness to talk. Hofreiter: Question of confidence before Christmas The pressure on the Chancellor is also growing within the ranks of the Greens. “Olaf Scholz should ask the question of confidence in December so that everything can be clarified before Christmas and the New Year,” said Bundestag member and chairman of the EU Committee, Anton Hofreiter (Greens), to the “Bild” newspaper.