German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called a confidence vote following the collapse of his coalition government. He has lost the vote, paving the way for elections in February,
DW reports.
Scholz has traveled to Berlin's Bellevue Palace and proposed to German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier that the Bundestag be dissolved.
The president, Germany's head of state, will then have 21 days to decide whether to agree and to call a new election within 60 days.
Steinmeier's approval is considered certain and he has already indicated that he agrees with the proposed election date of February 23.
However, it is expected that he will wait until after the Christmas holidays to make the decision, particularly as he first wants to hold talks with all parliamentary groups in the Bundestag.
Over the weekend, Steinmeier said he would not be hurried into making a decision.
"The hectic pace of daily politics and the beat of the media do not now dictate the procedure, but the constitution and its rules do," the German president told ARD.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz's minority coalition government has lost a confidence vote, paving the way for new elections in February.
Some 394 lawmakers cast their votes against the government, with 207 voting in favor.
Another 116 abstained, leaving Scholz far short of the majority of 367 needed to win.
The confidence vote came after the Free Democrats (FDP) left the coalition government with Scholz's center-left Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens following disputes over the budget.
