Germany heads to election after Scholz loses confidence vote

Germany is set to go to the polls in February after Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a no-confidence vote in parliament on Monday.

The vote paves the way for parliament’s dissolution and a snap election that is likely to be held on 23 February.

Scholz received 207 votes in the 733-seat parliament, nowhere near the 367 majority he needed to hold onto power.

He was widely expected to lose the vote after an acrimonious split over fiscal plans in the three-way coalition government. Scholz favoured an early election.

Scholz, the leader of the Social Democratic Party, led a government that also included the Greens and the Free Democratic Party. The coalition collapsed after Scholz dismissed the FDP finance minister Christian Lindner causing the party to withdraw its ministers.

President President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is now set to decide whether or not to dissolve parliament. Once dissolved, an election must be held within 60 days.

The no confidence vote is only the sixth in the country's post-war history. It comes at a time when Germany's economy is suffering from poor growth and Europe braces for a Donald Trump presidency in the US.

Trump has promised changes to US foreign policy, especially on Ukraine, which risks leaving the EU on its own in trying to prop up the Ukraine’s defence efforts.