Olaf Scholz has lost a historic vote of confidence in the German parliament, paving the way for early national elections following the collapse of his government.
The German chancellor had called the vote in order to deliberately lose it, urging the Bundestag, or lower house of parliament, to declare its lack of confidence in him so that the first formal step could be made towards triggering new elections.
Scholz will now ask the president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, to dissolve parliament, and to formally call new elections which have to take place within 60 days and have been pencilled in for 23 February.
The embattled chancellor required 367 votes of no confidence on Monday to succeed in his aim, and in the end 394 MPs obliged him. There were 207 yes votes, and 116 abstentions.
German chancellor Olaf Scholz loses confidence vote, triggering early elections | Olaf Scholz | The Guardian