Germany won't hold snap elections despite EU vote defeat
Scholz's coalition faced a significant setback in the European elections, with all three parties in his government trailing behind the conservatives and the far right.
The chancellor's Social Democrats (SPD) scored their worst result in history at 14 percent. / Photo: Reuters
Germany will not follow France and hold a snap election despite the ruling coalition's dismal performance in the EU election, a spokesman for Chancellor Olaf Scholz said.
"The regular election date is next autumn. And that's what we plan to do," Steffen Hebestreit told on Monday in a government press conference.
Scholz's coalition suffered a stinging defeat at the European elections on Sunday, with all three parties in his government trailing the conservatives and the far right, preliminary results showed.
The chancellor's Social Democrats (SPD) scored their worst result in history at 14 percent, third behind the far-right AfD at around 16 percent, and well behind the conservative CDU-CSU bloc's 30 percent.
The Greens recorded 12 percent while the liberal FDP took five percent.
The result sparked calls from opposition parties for Scholz to follow the lead of French President Emmanuel Macron and call a snap election.
Losing support
Alice Weidel, co-leader of the AfD, said Germany had "voted out the chancellor" and the government.
"There is now only one task left for Scholz: clear the way for new elections -- instead of governing for another year against a large majority of the population," Weidel wrote on X.Markus Soeder, the leader of the conservatives in the southern state of Bavaria, also called for new elections as soon as possible.
The three-way coalition "no longer has the support of the population", Soeder told the RTL broadcaster, calling for Germany to follow in the footsteps of France.
Macron has called snap elections for June 30 and July 7 after his centrist alliance lost to the far right in the EU elections.
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