After an assailant driving an S.U.V. killed five people, calls for solidarity have quickly given way to criticism by rival lawmakers, ahead of snap elections set for February.

Officials say five people have been killed, including a 9-year-old, after a Saudi doctor drove into a Christmas market teeming with holiday shoppers in the German city of Magdeburg on Friday.

The suspect in the attack in Germany had history of threats and harassment though no record of violence and an ideology that didn’t fit familiar patterns.