CNN —German Chancellor Olaf Scholz faces a confidence vote on Monday he is expected to lose, paving the way for a snap election early next year .
Scholz initially announced that he planned to hold a confidence vote on January 15, but he came under immediate pressure from the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party to hold them sooner.
If a snap election is called, polls point to the conservative CDU, the party of former long-serving chancellor Angela Merkel, being on track to win.
Germany’s economy shrank last year for the first time since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Germany’s last snap election was in 2005.
Persons:
Olaf Scholz, Scholz, Frank, Walter Steinmeier, Christian Lindner, Lawmaking, Angela Merkel, Friedrich Merz, Annegret Hilse, Germany’s, Gerhard Schröder, Merkel
Organizations:
CNN, Social Democrats, Green Party, Christian Democratic Union, CDU, Greens, Christian Social Union, CSU, European, European Commission
Locations:
Germany, Politpro, Bavarian, Thuringia
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