Horst Köhler, a onetime head of the International Monetary Fund who became a popular German president before stunning the country by resigning abruptly in a flap over comments about the country’s military, has died.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has lost a confidence vote in the German parliament, putting the European Union’s most populous member and biggest economy on course to hold an early election in February.

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