In Thuringia, the CDU abstains and elects Bodo Ramelow

Special envoy to Erfurt

The Thuringian Parliament did everything on Wednesday to try to repair the political damage caused by the election, on February 5, of a president with the support of the votes of the AfD. According to plans, it is the winner of the October 27 election, from the radical left party Die Linke, Bodo Ramelow, who rose to the head of the Land yesterday, thus partly erasing one of the biggest political scandals Germans in recent years. As soon as his victory was won, the former trade unionist from the East converted, posed as champion of the fight against the extreme right refusing to shake hands with his enemy, the local leader of Alternative für Deutschland, Björn Höcke.

The local CDU, which had mixed its voices with that of Alternative für Deutschland, causing the resignation of its president Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, revived the policy of the cordon cordon erected in Berlin. Not without moods, its members discreetly helped to elect their second main adversary, the representative of a party - Die Linke - associated by the Christian Democrats with the SED, the ex-sinister East German Communist Party memory. Between two evils, they chose the lesser, aspiring to return to normality.

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“ Four weeks ago, in this room, we witnessed the start of a crisis that made the Land of Thuringia known worldwide. I think I speak for everyone by saying that we could have done without this form of advertising, ”said Bodo Ramelow, as soon as elected. While calling on his colleagues to “ look ahead ”, the new president does not forgive the AfD for having made threats against his family and Thomas Kemmerich. The latter is the short-lived president who had to abandon his chair on February 6, in the face of political pressure.

In a difficult situation, we sought a constructive solution. We wanted to be part of the solution, not part of the problem

Hidden in the arithmetic of the ballot, political appearances are saved. Bodo Ramelow was elected in the third round, in which a simple majority was required. Making a gesture towards the CDU, he declined the few Christian Democrat voices who, under party discipline, were ready to guarantee him an absolute majority in the first round. In the end, it settled for the 42 votes from its own coalition - Greens and Social Democrats - 20 more than its competitor from the AfD.

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Without any false note, all the other deputies - CDU included - abstained. None of their parties had presented an alternative competitor, likely to defeat the candidacy of their quasi-enemy. “ In a difficult situation, we sought a constructive solution. We wanted to be part of the solution and not part of the problem, ”CDU leader Mario Voigt explained to Le Figaro , thanked by Bodo Ramelow.

Staging

Contrary to their initial intentions, none of the Liberal parliamentarians from the FDP left the room in protest. The AfD itself, seemed to have participated in the staging by presenting to the perch of the hemicycle, its candidate least compatible with the values ​​of Christian democracy. On February 5, its deputies had put forward a straw man for whom they had not even voted, transferring their votes, with those of the CDU towards the obscure liberal Kemmerich.

This time, it was their leader, Björn Höcke, from the most radical current of the party, and hostile to the culture of anti-Nazi repentance permeating the German population, who had stood as a candidate. He won only 22 votes: those of his comrades.

The bipartisan agreement between the radical left and the CDU is expected to remain in effect until April 2021, when a new parliamentary election will take place. By then, the CDU can hope to recover, which is currently credited with 14% of voting intentions, a drop of 7 points compared to the election on October 27.

It is precisely in Erfurt that Friedrich Merz, main challenger of the centrist Armin Laschet for the candidacy for the presidency of the CDU, had reserved his first electoral trip. Supporter of a shift to the right of the party, it had registered on the spot the support of CDU activists, who said they were tired of the "diktats" of Berlin. He had made Bodo Ramelow and his "arrogance" solely responsible for the crisis in Thuringia, without saying a word about the other protagonists of the political soap opera that rocked Germany. But within the CDU, yesterday, others preferred to act of contrition.