Early elections in Germany may not be possible because of a lack of paper, the head of the electoral commission has said. Olaf Scholz, the chancellor, has caved to pressure to hold a snap election after initially planning to hold the vote five months after the collapse of his coalition government this week.

Germany's ruling coalition collapsed as Chancellor Olaf Scholz sacked his finance minister, triggering political chaos.

The German conservative leader hoping to replace embattled Chancellor Olaf Scholz applied further pressure on Friday for early elections, as Europe's biggest economy grappled with a major political crisis.