Germany‘s main political parties have agreed to hold elections for a new federal parliament on February 23, seven months early, after the collapse of the three-way coalition led by the chancellor Olaf Scholz.

His Social Democratic Party (SPD) came in third place in the polls with 15.5 percent of the votes, while the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has less than half the support. Berlin’s likely next government could repeat the same thing Merkel era Grand coalitions of CDU and SPD.

Ahead of Tuesday’s official announcement, CDU leader Friedrich Merz described Germany as a “sleeping” power that “needs to become an active power” in Europe again.

“After three years of a so-called progressive coalition, it is now time for the Chancellor to pave the way for new elections,” said Mr. Merz, who hopes to become Germany’s next chancellor. “I will guarantee a new leadership in Europe for Europe.”

After three years in power, Mr Scholz is likely to present a vote of confidence in the Bundestag on December 16 with the intention of losing.

The last chancellor to take this step was the SPD’s Gerhard Schröder in 2005, triggering an early election that brought CDU leader Angela Merkel to power.

A failed vote of confidence would require federal president Frank Walter Steinmeier to either ask the parties in the current parliament to form a new government or, most likely, dissolve parliament for early elections.

Postwar Germany imposed major obstacles to early federal elections in an attempt to avoid the parliamentary turmoil of the Weimar era.

The economy affected by the recession and concerns about irregular migration will leave their mark on the winter campaign. Uncertainty on these two issues has led to increased support for the increasingly far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which ranks second in the polls with 19.5 percent.

The wild card of the upcoming poll will be the untested BSW left-wing conservative alliance led by Sahra Wagenknecht. After three strong showings in September’s eastern state elections, BSW’s support at the federal level has fallen to 7-8 percent in polls. But that could be enough to complicate coalition talks after the vote in February.

Another wild card was the liberal, pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP), which left the Berlin coalition after its leader and federal finance minister Christian Lindner was fired by Mr Scholz over a long-running row over fiscal rules.

After years of decline, polls show the FDP has reached the five percentage points needed to re-enter the Bundestag.

The Greens, the third member of the SPD-led coalition, receive 11.5 percent of the vote; This ratio is currently too weak for an already established alliance with the CDU.