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.

Ruth Brand, the president of the German electoral commission, told German television that it was a “great challenge in today’s world to actually procure the paper and carry out the printing orders”.

She warned against holding elections too soon after Christmas in comments that drew scorn from opposition politicians and Bild, Germany’s best-selling newspaper. She has also written to Mr Scholz on the matter.

As parties need to decide on candidate lists and other organisational issues, holding the vote after a long run of public holidays would come with “incalculable risks”, Ms Brand said.

“We must be careful not to make ourselves look ridiculous internationally with a debate at this level,” said Thorsten Frei, of the opposition party Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which wants a vote held before the inauguration of Donald Trump in January.