Scholz sets Germany on course for an early election as he requests a confidence vote next week

BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Olaf Scholz has formally set Germany on course for an early election by requesting a confidence vote in parliament next week. Five weeks after his three-party governing coalition collapsed in a dispute over how to revitalize Germany’s stagnant economy, Scholz said he had requested the confidence vote in parliament’s lower house, or Bundestag, for Monday. The aim is to hold a parliamentary election on Feb. 23, seven months earlier than originally scheduled. Scholz is expected to lose Monday’s vote. If he does, it’s up to President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to decide whether to dissolve the Bundestag. He has 21 days to make that decision, and once parliament is dissolved the election must be held within 60 days.