German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier dissolved Parliament and set the country’s snap election for Feb 23, formally endorsing a timetable proposed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz after he pulled the plug on his ruling coalition last month.

Social Democrat Scholz ended his three-party alliance with the Greens and Free Democrats (FDP) when he sacked FDP Finance Minister Christian Lindner in a dispute over government borrowings.

The surprise move deprived Scholz of a majority in the lower house, or Bundestag, and paved the way for a national ballot seven months before the scheduled end of his four-year term.

With just under two months until the vote, the main opposition conservatives under Friedrich Merz are strides ahead in the polls. Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) is languishing in the third place behind the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, with the Greens in fourth.

Merz’s centre-right Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) bloc has about 31% support, according to the latest Bloomberg polling average, with the AfD at around 19% and the centre-left SPD 16%.

The Greens have about 13%, while Lindner’s FDP is in danger of missing the 5% threshold for getting into Parliament with 4%.

Lars Klingbeil, an SPD co-leader, said he expects the party to begin narrowing the gap to the conservatives in January, and still believes it can emerge as the strongest party again.

At the last election in 2021, the SPD came from behind in the final weeks of campaigning to secure almost 26% in the first place, beating the CDU/CSU, which got 24%.

“More and more citizens will ask themselves: Do we want Olaf Scholz as the chancellor or Friedrich Merz?” Klingbeil was quoted as saying in an interview with the Tagesspiegel newspaper published on Thursday. “We have the better candidate, the better team, the better programme.”

Although Steinmeier has formally dissolved the Bundestag, its term will only end with the constitution of the next Parliament. Lawmakers will continue to meet and conduct parliamentary business, with two sessions planned before the election.

Scholz’s move to force an early election is unusual in German politics since World War II. The national ballot was brought forward only twice in West Germany and only once since reunification in 1990.

Former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, also a Social Democrat, triggered an early vote in 2005 before losing to Angela Merkel, who went on to run the country until Scholz took over in late 2021.

  - Bloomberg