German Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote on Monday, spelling the effective end of his troubled government and putting Europe's biggest economy on the path to elections on Feb. 23.
Scholz had called the vote, expecting to lose it, weeks after his coalition collapsed. Later Monday, he asked President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to dissolve the legislature soon and ask voters to head back to the ballot box.
Although the center-left chancellor continues in a caretaker role and with a minority in parliament, the political turmoil threatens months of paralysis until a new coalition government is formed.
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