"Is there always so little going on here?", Asks an elderly lady, who, according to her own words, experiences an election night in the Berlin FDP headquarters for the first time. In fact, not many liberal party friends have lost their way to the Hans-Dietrich-Genscher-Haus this Sunday. Much more, however, it was not on the previous election Sunday of the year 2019.
The year was not going well for the Liberals. While the Greens profited from the climate debate and the weakness of the popular parties CDU and SPD, the Liberals shuffled from polling to polling. In the European elections in May, the FDP missed its election target, even in Bremen, it was not enough for a government participation. And two months ago, the Free Democrats in Brandenburg and Saxony missed the entry into the Landtage.
Party leader Christian Lindner hoped all the more that he would be granted a sense of achievement at the end of the year. That it would be tight, was clear early. That's why Lindner and his Thuringian top candidate Thomas Kemmerich tried the "functional argument", although that had actually been banned in the moth-crate of the old FDP. "Choose FDP, end red-red-green," Kemmerich plaid. The FDP needed a change of government, argued Lindner. Without the Liberals, it would definitely go on with Bodo Ramelow.
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The election evening in Thuringia: a bit of cheers and a lot of helplessnessStill, it should not be enough. When the head of the FDP arrives at the atrium of the Berlin party headquarters at 6.45 pm, the projections are at the five percent hurdle. At the time, the Liberals were only satisfied by the fact that the Greens also had to worry about their entry into the state parliament of Erfurt. "FDP - this is not for people with weak nerves", quoted Lindner the former Federal Minister of Economics Otto Graf Lambsdorff. "And I'm afraid that tonight we'll see a new example where our nerves will be challenged."
The counting thriller should last until 23.50. Sometimes the FDP was just over five percent, then it fell below again. When 42 out of 3017 electoral districts were still missing, the Free Democrats were 4.9985 percent, then they climbed to 5.0009 percent to threaten the parliamentary hurdle again shortly before the end of the count. In the end, it was enough for 5,0005 percent, five seats in the state parliament and five votes more than necessary.
State election Thuringia 2019
Preliminary final result
Second vote result
Shares in percent
CDU
21.8
-11.7
The left
31
+2.8
SPD
8.2
-4.2
AFD
23.4
+12.8
green
5.2
-0.5
FDP
5
+2.5
other
5.4
-1.7
allocation of seats
Total: 90
Majority: 46 seats
29
8th
5
5
21
22
The Left (29)
SPD (8)
Green (5)
FDP (5)
CDU (21)
AfD (22)
Source: Provincial Returning Officer
Results in detail
Although the FDP has succeeded in ending the majority of red-red-green, it is questionable whether it is fulfilling its promise to end Ramelov's time as prime minister. One will see, "what comes in the next few days", says Lindner in the evening in a television interview. Perhaps there are other constellations that make a substantive cooperation possible, the party leader said: "I am thinking of a minority government."
Then speculation round the round, the FDP could tolerate a red-red-green minority government, much like once in the so-called Magdeburg model in Saxony-Anhalt. Lindner, meanwhile back from the TV studio, excludes that. He points to a peculiarity in the Thuringian Constitution: Ramelow and the previous ministers can simply stay in office, the FDP would then play a "constructive opposition," says the party leader.
In other words, liberal voices only exist if the content fits. The CDU could also get involved in a toleration. The advantage: the parliamentary democracy would be more varied. The drawback: The borders between government and opposition are blurring, the AfD is the only right opposition party and a whole legislature would hardly keep this model.
More about the state election in Thuringia
How did Lindner say a few days before the election? No party has as much influence on the political situation in Thuringia as the FDP. No vote potentially makes such a difference as a vote for the FDP.
The party leader was right. But they have become quite confusing, the political conditions. Thank five Thuringians.
