Berlin, 11 December 2024 (dpa/MIA) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has submitted a motion for a vote of confidence in his government, paving the way for early elections on February 23.

Government sources told dpa the request was submitted to Bundestag President Bärbel Bas on Wednesday as planned.

It is seen as all but certain that Scholz will lose the confidence vote, which is set for Monday.

That would prompt the chancellor to ask German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to dissolve the Bundestag, as the lower house of Germany's parliament is known, and call elections seven months earlier than originally planned.

The move comes just over a month after Scholz's fractious three-party coalition collapsed in the wake of the chancellor's decision to sack then-finance minister Christian Lindner of the pro-business liberal Free Democrats (FDP).

Scholz accused Lindner of having broken trust during months of bitter disputes, largely over how to close gaps in the budget.

Lindner's FDP promptly quit the coalition, leaving Scholz's centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and his remaining partner, the Greens, short of a majority in the Bundestag.

MIA file photo