Christian Lindner, former Finance Minister and leader of the pro-business liberal Free Democrats (FDP) has called for an immediate confidence vote in the minority gov't of Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Lindner: "No-one can be afraid of the votes in a democracy". Lindner's demand of an immediate vote will raise the pressure on Scholz to call the vote sooner, rather than his planned action in a vote on 15 January 2025. Earlier, Freidrich Merz from the main opposition conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) made the same demand as Lindner (see 'GERMANY: CDU's Merz Calls For Immediate Confidence Vote In Scholz Minority Gov't', 0957GMT).

• Under the German constitution (the 'Basic Law), if a chancellor cannot carry the confidence of the Bundestag in a vote the president has 21 days to then dissolve parliament. After dissolution, a federal election must take place within 60 days. In Scholz's preferred timeline this would make 6 April the latest possible date for an election.
• Scholz has more leeway than in other parliamentary democracies when it comes to the timing of any vote. The opposition cannot simply call a no-confidence vote to remove Scholz, but hold a 'constructive vote of no confidence'. They must put forward their own chancellor candidate, who has to win an absolute majority in the Bundestag in order to replace the incumbent. The CDU/CSU and FDP are well short of an absolute majority.