German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats and opposition lawmakers reached an agreement to hold an early election in February, according to government officials familiar with the talks.

The federal ballot, which was originally slated for Sept 28, is now expected to be held on Feb 23, said the officials, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential planning.

Europe’s largest economy was plunged into political uncertainty last week after Scholz fired Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the Free Democratic Party, breaking up the governing coalition in a dispute over borrowing money to boost military support for Ukraine.

While polls suggest Friedrich Merz, leader of the opposition conservative CDU/CSU alliance, is the election frontrunner, Scholz on Sunday expressed confidence that he can win, saying he previously defied bad poll numbers before winning the chancellorship in 2021. He also said he expects his party to back him to run for another term.

Scholz will need to trigger the national ballot by first submitting to a confidence vote in the lower house of parliament. That vote will likely come in the first half of December and once the chancellor loses that, he can ask the president to dissolve parliament. The election would then need to be held within 60 days.

German officials have cautioned that holding elections as early as January may result in logistical problems and open the door to legal challenges, prompting the head of Germany’s paper industry association to assure the nation that enough ballot paper would be available.

  - Bloomberg