Chancellor Olaf Scholz has formally set Germany on course for an early election by requesting a confidence vote in parliament next week.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who had little choice but to call for the vote, is widely expected to lose when Parliament takes up the measure on Monday.

The chancellor's procedural move will allow for a vote Monday where the bloc of the leading candidate to replace him, Friedrich Merz, and other opposition parties are expected to declare they have no confidence in the government.