Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote on Dec. 16 and leads a minority government after his unpopular and notoriously rancorous three-party coalition collapsed on Nov. 6.

German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier has ordered the country’s parliament to be dissolved and set new elections for February 23 in the wake of the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s governing coalition.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has lost a confidence vote in the German parliament, putting the European Union’s most populous member and biggest economy on course to hold an early election in February.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is due to announce his decision on Friday as to whether to dissolve the country's lower house of parliament - the Bundestag - paving the way for early elections in February.