The traffic light government is at its end. Chancellor Scholz has announced that he will ask the Bundestag a vote of confidence. So there could be new elections in just a few months. That would be an enormous challenge for Berlin.
- New elections are possible after the traffic lights are turned off
- Berlin is already starting to prepare for elections
- The state returning officer is targeting an election date in March
- 30,000 election workers wanted in Berlin
- No concrete plans from Brandenburg are yet known
Preparations for a new Bundestag election have already started in Berlin. The Berlin state returning officer Stephan Bröchler said in an interview with rbb|24 on Thursday: “As of today, this is absolutely urgent. We now have a lot of work ahead of us.” The search for election workers, polling stations and paper was a major challenge.
Bröchler explained that the state and district election authorities would consider a new election between March 9th and the end of March in their planning. There have already been several meetings today to get everything off the ground. “Our goal is to be able to get started straight away tomorrow.”
Since late Wednesday evening it has been clear: The traffic light coalition has failed. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has fired his Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP). In a statement shortly afterwards, Scholz announced that he wanted to ask the vote of confidence in January. Then new elections could take place.
Chancellor Scholz dismisses Finance Minister Lindner – vote of confidence on January 15th
The traffic light coalition is over. Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) was fired by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in the evening. Scholz wants to ask the vote of confidence on January 15th. If he doesn’t get a majority, there will be new elections at the end of March.more
New elections in January or March
When a chancellor asks Parliament to vote of confidence, it means he wants to know from the MPs whether he still has the approval of the majority of MPs. If the answer is “yes,” he can continue to rule. However, that is rather unlikely in this case. If Parliament expresses no confidence in him, new elections will take place just a few weeks later. The exact deadlines are stipulated by the Basic Law.
Chancellor Scholz has announced that he will ask the vote of confidence on January 15th. If he does not get a majority in the Bundestag, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD) will intervene. He then has 21 days to dissolve parliament. In a statement on Thursday morning he said: “I’m ready for that.” As soon as the Federal President dissolves parliament, there must be new elections within 60 days. According to Scholz’s schedule, that would probably be in March.
But new elections could come much sooner. That would be the case if Scholz asked the question of confidence in parliament earlier. CDU leader Friedrich Merz has demanded that the Chancellor do this immediately – but at the latest next week. If that were to happen, new elections would probably take place in January.
“State political responsibility is now required”
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has fired Finance Minister Lindner and plans to ask for a vote of confidence in January. Politicians from the region sometimes view the decision differently. But they agree on one thing: new elections are now needed.more
“We are not unprepared”
A new election does not come as a complete surprise to political scientist and state returning officer Bröchler. “I asked my people in the state election office some time ago to see what we would have to do if there were early elections. So we are not unprepared.” But the mountain of work is still very large.
“We now have to see that we can clarify the paper supply for the election. The challenge here is that all other federal states are now doing the same.” But he is confident that in the end there will be enough paper for the ballot papers and enough polling stations. “The repeat election wasn’t that long ago. We’re currently looking at which polling stations we can rent again.”
For a new election, around 30,000 election workers would be needed to support the election process and counting. In order to acquire this large number of volunteers in such a short time, a joint campaign is being planned with the districts. It shouldn’t be any less, says Bröchler. “There have to be 30,000. We have no alternative. So far we’ve managed to do it because many Berliners realize that this is important. I’m pleased that this also motivates young people.”
Expert sees “no systemic crisis” after traffic lights are turned off
First Donald Trump wins the election in the USA, shortly afterwards the traffic light coalition collapses in Germany. Reason enough to feel unsettled. Or? Political scientist Aiko Wagner isn’t really worried.more
Fifth choice as State returning officer
Even if the time until possible new elections is extremely short, it should not be a glitch election like in autumn 2021. Back then, people had to wait for hours to cast their vote. Many didn’t even get their turn. Bröchler took office after this election. “This is now my fifth election that I’m organizing. I’m optimistic. But of course it will also mean a lot of overtime.”
If Olaf Scholz asked the vote of confidence announced for January 15th earlier, then the new election would also take place earlier. “That would increase the pressure enormously for us,” said state returning officer Bröchler. “If the Federal President gives us this task, then we have to do it.”
In the event of a new election, elections will also have to be held in Brandenburg. Many polling stations and thousands of election workers will also be needed there. When asked by rbb|24, Brandenburg’s state returning officer Josef Nußbaum initially did not want to provide any information on Thursday.
Broadcast: rbb24 Inforadio, November 7th, 2024, 3 p.m
