Germany’s snap election to take place on Feb. 23

BERLIN — Germany will hold its federal snap election on Sunday Feb. 23, 2025, lawmakers and officials in three of the major parties told POLITICO.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz is expected to hold a vote of confidence before Christmas, paving the way for the new election in February. His fractious three-party coalition collapsed last week after several months of rising acrimony due to sharp disagreements on spending and how to stimulate Germany’s ailing economy.
Scholz initially said he would hold a confidence vote on Jan. 15, setting up a new election by the end of March while ruling as the head of a minority government consisting of his center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Greens in the interim. But leaders of other parties, including Friedrich Merz, the leader of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), urged Scholz to speed up that timeline, arguing Germany couldn’t afford a prolonged period of political uncertainty.
Now that the election date appears to be settled, the election campaigning is set to begin in earnest.
The CDU and their conservative Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), are currently leading in polls by a wide margin, with 32 percent support, and will likely lead the next coalition government with Merz as chancellor. Scholz’s SPD, on the other hand, is polling third at 16 percent, just behind the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Following the election, the formation of a new coalition government could take weeks or months. The CDU has vowed not to form a federal coalition with the AfD, making a coalition with the SPD a likely outcome. Based on current polling and due to growing political fragmentation, the conservatives and the SPD may need a third party with which to govern.
This developing story is being updated.