Germany set to hold snap elections on 23 February, reports claim

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz previously suggested new vote could be held in March, following the breakdown of his ruling coalition.

Transcript

00:00Germany is set to hold snap elections on the 23rd of February.

00:06That is according to domestic media reports.

00:09It comes after internal conflict left the country's ruling coalition ruptured last week.

00:14The so-called traffic light coalition, made up of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats,

00:19the Liberal FDP and the Greens, collapsed on 6 November after Scholz fired Finance Minister

00:25Christian Lindner.

00:28Reports previously suggested a no-confidence vote to be held on the 15th of January, with

00:33elections following around March.

00:36But this was rejected by Friedrich Merz, head of the country's largest opposition party

00:41CDU, who argued that Scholz's government were no longer able to claim a parliamentary majority

00:46in order to run the country effectively.

00:51Local media reports say that the leaders of the conservative Christian Democratic Union

00:55and Scholz's Social Democrats reached the agreement on Tuesday, with a special session

01:00planned for the evening to discuss further action.