German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Friday ordered the dissolution of parliament and scheduled new elections for February 23 after the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s ruling coalition, saying it was the only way to give the country a stable government capable of tackling its problems.

Scholz lost a vote of confidence on December 16 and leads a minority government. His unpopular and notoriously infamous three-party coalition fell apart on November 6 when he fired his finance minister in a dispute over how to revitalize Germany’s stagnant economy.

Steinmeier said he made the decision because after consultations with party leaders, it was clear that there was no agreement among German political parties on a majority for a new government in the current parliament.

“Precisely in difficult times like these, stability requires a government capable of acting and a reliable majority in parliament,” he said at the announcement in Berlin.

“Therefore, I am convinced that new elections are the right way for the good of our country.”

Since the post-World War II constitution does not allow the Bundestag to dissolve itself, Steinmeier decided whether to dissolve parliament and call elections. He had 21 days to make that decision. After the parliament is dissolved, elections must be held within 60 days.

Leaders of several major parties agreed earlier to hold parliamentary elections on February 23, seven months earlier than originally planned.

In practice, the campaign is already well under way. Polls show Scholz’s party trailing the conservative opposition Union bloc led by Friedrich Merz.

Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck of the Green Environmentalists, the remaining partner in Scholz’s government, is also in the running for the top job – although his party is further back. If recent polls hold, the likely next government would be led by Merz as chancellor in a coalition with at least one other party.

Key issues include immigration, how to jump-start the sluggish economy and how best to help Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

The far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, which is strong in the polls, has nominated Alice Weidel as its candidate for chancellor, but she has no chance of taking the job because other parties refuse to cooperate with her.

The German electoral system traditionally creates coalitions, and polls do not show that any single party has even close to an absolute majority on its own. The election is expected to be followed by weeks of negotiations on the formation of a new government.

This is only the fourth time that the Bundestag has been dissolved before the deadline set by the German constitution since World War II. This happened under chancellors Willy Brandt in 1972, Helmut Kohl in 1982 and Gerhard Schroeder in 2005. Schroeder used the confidence vote to organize snap elections that were narrowly won by centre-right rival Angela Merkel.