section_path: Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (1949–present)/Confidence
section_name: Confidence
paragraph_text: Confidence
  
  In principle, the Chancellor is dependent on the confidence of Parliament, which is bestowed upon him with the election. The Bundestag can also withdraw its confidence in the Chancellor; however, this is only possible by means of a motion that simultaneously requests the President to appoint a new Chancellor proposed by name; the motion requires (as in an ordinary election of Chancellor) a majority of all members of the Bundestag in order to pass (Constructive vote of no confidence). Such a motion has been tabled twice so far and was successful only once:
  
  This is to be distinguished from a motion of confidence. This is a motion that only the Chancellor can submit to the Bundestag (optionally in conjunction with another motion or bill) to the effect that the Bundestag explicitly expresses its confidence in him (again). However, if the Chancellor loses the vote on this motion, this does not mean that he leaves office; rather, it gives him additional options for action: He can ask the President to dissolve the Bundestag and call a snap election or declare a legislative emergency, during which the government can bypass the Bundestag in the legislative process for a limited period of time. This apparent paradox is due to the fact that the motion of confidence is intended as an instrument of discipline for the chancellor vis-à-vis parliament or the factions supporting him: if the MPs fail to place their trust in him, they risk a new election or a (temporary and partial) disempowerment in the legislative process. In practice, however, the motion of confidence has also established itself as a means for the chancellor to deliberately trigger new elections by submitting the motion of confidence with the explicit goal of losing the vote and then requesting a dissolution of parliament. A total of six times a chancellor has submitted a motion of confidence to date; only twice was it a "genuine motion of confidence" (1982 and 2001), while in four cases the respective chancellor had the goal of triggering a snap election from the outset (1972, 1982, 2005, 2024).