Germany's Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz has now, as expected, formally requested a vote of confidence on December 16. This is so that the country can hold a new election on February 23 next year, seven months earlier than planned.
Scholz has led a minority government with his Social Democratic Party SPD and the Green Party since the liberal FDP left the government in November.
Scholz is expected to lose Monday's vote, however. The SPD has 207 seats in parliament and the Green Party has 117 seats, out of a total of 733 – which means that Scholz's government does not have a majority.
The vote of confidence is necessary because Germany's post-war constitution does not allow parliament to dissolve itself.
Corrected: In an earlier version, the wrong type of vote was stated.
