German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Friday dissolved parliament and confirmed the expected February 23 date for an early general election after the collapse of Olaf Scholz’s government last month.
Internal fights brought down Scholz’s coalition over how to revive Europe’s largest economy, but a deadly car-ramming attack at a Christmas market last week has renewed the country’s heated debates over security and immigration.
While confirming the February 23 date for the election, Steinmeier stressed the need for political stability and appealed for the campaign to be conducted with respect and decency.
A 50-year-old Saudi doctor, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, was arrested at the scene of the attack on the Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg, which left five people dead and more than 200 injured. Interior Minister Nancy Fraser said Abdulmohsen held Islamophobic views, but his exact motive remains unclear.
Following the attack, Scholz appealed to Germans to link arms and not allow hatred to determine their coexistence. The conservative CDU/CSU is leading in the polls on around 32 percent under its leader, Friedrich Merz, and even before last week’s attack, it had been promising a harder line on immigration as well as a rightward shift on social and economic policy.
Steinmeier also said on Friday that he wanted the campaign to be conducted with fair and transparent means, warning of the dangers of foreign influence.
“Hatred and violence must have no place in this election campaign, nor denigration or intimidation… all this is poison for democracy,” Steinmeier said.
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