Christian Democratic Party (CDU) leader Friedrich Merz will be the new chancellor, and Free Democratic Party (FDP) leader Christian Lindner appeared convinced.

“I think the race for the chancellorship has been decided. The question is with whom (Friedrich) Merz can govern,” Lindner said, warning that a CDU coalition with the Social Democratic Party (SPD) or the Greens would be merely a “traffic light (as the three-party coalition of SPD, Greens, FDP was called, by the parties’ colours (Traffic light).”

The FDP “must be strong to have a chance of entering government. The goal is a double-digit number,” Lindner said, but polls so far give his party percentages close to the threshold for entering parliament (5%).

Key dates on the road to early elections

The die is cast and after the collapse of the governing coalition, Germany is on track for early elections, to be held on February 23 next year.

Here are some key dates on the road to the election.

– Chancellor Olaf Scholz will seek a vote of confidence in the Bundestag on December 16, the chancellor’s Social Democratic Party and the Conservatives, the main opposition force in Germany, announced. If he does not win the vote, as expected, the ruling coalition no longer has a parliamentary majority.

– Two days later (18 December) the Bundestag voted on the confidence vote.

– The chancellor loses the vote of confidence and asks federal president Frank-Walter Steinmeier to dissolve the federal parliament, based on Article 68 of the German constitution.

– Steinmeier then dissolved the Bundestag 21 days later. The constitution does not oblige him to do so.

– If the president dissolves the Bundestag, he will simultaneously set a date for elections. This must be done within 60 days of the dissolution of the Bundestag, according to Article 39 of the constitution. German presidents usually follow the government’s recommendation for the election date.

– Elections are expected to take place on Sunday 23 February – less than 3.5 months from now. German parliamentary elections are always held on a Sunday.