In Erfurt, thousands of people expressed their displeasure at the scandal at the election of the prime minister in Thuringia on Saturday.
- After the failed election of a prime minister , new elections are likely to take place in Thuringia
- Ramelow doesn't believe in expert government
- Christian Lindner apologizes
- Thuringia is not present at the Federal Council meeting
Update from Saturday, February 15, 2020, 5:30 p.m .: Unaffected by the resignation of Thuringian Prime Minister Thomas Kemmerich, thousands of people in Erfurt protested against the election of the head of government with the help of the AfD on Saturday. In the afternoon, 6000 people came to a rally in the cathedral square, as a police spokesman said. According to the police, up to 9,000 people took part in a demonstration train through the city center. The organizers - the German Trade Union Confederation and the “Unteilbar” initiative - spoke of 18,000 participants throughout the day. According to the police, the protests were peaceful.
Update from Friday, 14.02.2020, 5.30 p.m .: Still-CDU boss Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer considers the announced withdrawal of the heavily pressured Thuringian CDU boss Mike Mohring the right decision. "First of all, this is a change for Thuringia, which also gives a chance for a new start," she said on Friday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
Update from Friday, 02/14/2020, 02:10 p.m .: The CDU politician Mike Mohring wants to hand over the party presidency as well as the state presidency of his party. Mohring said on Friday that he wanted to propose an early party congress with new elections to the state board, in which he would not stand again. Previously, he had already announced that he would give up the chair of the CDU parliamentary group in May at the latest.
Update from Friday, 14.02.2020, 12.10 p.m .: Several Thuringian CDU state parliamentarians have requested a vote of confidence over Mike Mohring as parliamentary leader. A letter with eight signatories was received on Friday morning, a spokesman for the parliamentary group told the press.
Accordingly, the proposal will be voted on next Wednesday in the next regular parliamentary group meeting. Last week, the 21-member parliamentary group had agreed to a new election of the parliamentary group board at the end of May, which Mohring should not run for again.
Update from Friday, February 14th, 2020, 7.30 a.m .: For the first time since reunification, Thuringia will not be represented at a Federal Council meeting. The managing prime minister Thomas Kemmerich (FDP) has announced through a party spokesman that he will not go to the meeting of the regional chamber in Berlin on Friday. The reason: Kemmerich , who had caused a political quake through his election with votes from the AfD, the CDU and the FDP, does not want to provoke with his presence.
Thuringia not represented at Federal Council meeting
Representatives of the previous red-red-green government coalition criticize his decision. Former Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) sees the non-participation as a first indication of an emerging state crisis in Thuringia. "I hope that every member of the Landtag internalizes what it means if we don't have a state government," said Ramelow.
Update from Thursday, February 13, 2020, 4:05 p.m .: The Thuringian fiasco surrounding Thomas Kemmerich (FDP) also reached the Bundestag after a week. In an emotional debate, the heavily criticized FDP leader Christian Lindner apologized for the election of Kemmerich with the votes of the AfD. "Erfurt was a mistake, but we are doing everything we can to prevent it from repeating itself," Lindner told the MPs. One is ashamed because the FDP has enabled the AfD to ridicule parliamentary democracy.
Thuringia: Emotional debate in the Bundestag on the election fiasco
CDU general secretary Paul Ziemiak attacked AfD and Linke. He affirmed that cooperation between the CDU and the left is out of the question. He talked himself into rage and, looking at the faction of the left, said: "Should we count the wall dead again?" Ziemiak stated: "Mr. Ramelow is your candidate, the left - and therefore he will not get any support from us like everyone other left candidate. "
# CDU General Secretary @PaulZiemiak maintains that the #Linksparte @dieLinke and @CDU are incompatible. Therefore, @bodoramelow will not receive any support for the office of prime minister in # Thuringia from the CDU | # ThüringenWahl @die_linke_th pic.twitter.com/S9VTuKILkC
- phoenix (@phoenix_de) February 13, 2020The parliamentary director of the SPD, Carsten Schneider, asked the CDU to rethink its relationship with the Left Party. The CDU would have to consider whether this “fatal equation” of the left with the AfD would not run the business of the political right. Greens faction leader Katrin Göring-Eckardt said about the Thuringian left that they had dealt with their past - only because of this the Greens in Thuringia had formed a coalition with the left.
Update from Thursday, February 13th, 2020, 9:25 am: Bodo Ramelow (left) has complained about an unprecedented persecution of his family as well. What he and his family have been going through since last week, "We have never seen that before," said the politician on Wednesday evening on the ARD program "Maischberger". After a tweet, the extreme right-wing “Identitarian Movement” began to “make me the number one enemy”. He and his family are under police protection.
Handshake by Höcke and Kemmerich
The trigger was said to have been a deleted tweet, which compared the handshake of the Prime Minister elected FDP politician Thomas Kemmerich and the Thuringian AfD leader Björn Höcke with the handshake of Adolf Hitler with the Reich President Paul von Hindenburg in 1933.
Update from Thursday, February 13th, 2020, 7:15 am: Bodo Ramelow (left) sees no viable way out of the Thuringian crisis in the election of an independent candidate or an expert government.
"It would be good if the Berlin party headquarters were now quieter," said Ramelow in Erfurt. The left-wing politician described a push by FDP leader Christian Lindner as an imposition. The liberal was the first to talk to a transitional head of government for Thuringia.
At the moment, the loudest are the representatives of the parties, who played a part in the disaster that occurred on February 5 in the Prime Minister election in Thuringia. Ramelow: "Some advice is like blows".
Thuringia's former Prime Minister Ramelow.
© picture alliance / Martin Schutt
Ramelow recalled that AfD leader Björn Höcke wrote letters to the CDU and FDP after the state election at the end of October 2019, in which he suggested, among other things, that Ramelow's red-red-green coalition be replaced by an expert government.
The former prime minister also warned of a state crisis. After all, the country is currently not represented in the Federal Council.
Update from Wednesday, February 12, 2020, 8:52 p.m .: The CDU parliamentary group in Thuringia was obviously aware of the risk that the AfD could vote for the FDP politician Thomas Kemmerich in the election of the prime minister. Until recently, he had warned the CDU, but also the FDP, that "it could happen that Höcke would just bluff and the AfD would vote for the FDP candidate and then a tsunami would break out," said CDU chief Mike Mohring, according to a prior announcement from Wednesday of "time".
Deputy Group leader Michael Heym became even clearer. "I was fully aware that the AfD could vote for Kemmerich," Heym told Die Zeit. I don't think it's bad that it happened this way. He had received confirmation from his constituency: “That's right! Steadfast! "
Heym also criticized the sharp reactions of the Federal CDU and especially Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) to Kemmerich's election. He has "no understanding" that
Angela Merkel
from South Africa tune in and demand that the result must be reversed. Nobody should be surprised, "when people who took to the streets 30 years ago turn away from the established parties in disgust," said Heym.
Update from Wednesday, February 12, 2020, 4:55 p.m .: Two constitutional lawyers from the University of Potsdam are of the opinion that the ministers from the cabinet of Bodo Ramelow (left) in Thuringia continue to hold office. In an entry on the website verfassungsblog.de, the two doctoral students Michael Meier and Robert Wille quote from the Thuringian version: "The Prime Minister and, at his request, the Ministers are obliged to continue business until their successors take office."
Unlike the former Prime Minister, Bodo Ramelow, the other government members such as Finance Minister Heike Taubert (SPD), Justice Minister Dieter Lauinger (Greens) or Minister of Culture Benjamin-Immanuel Hoff (Left) would continue to hold their posts. The two scientists come to the conclusion: "In addition to the elected Prime Minister Kemmerich, the red-red-green ministers of the Ramelow government continue to hold office."
Thuringia: Are Ramelow's ministers still in office?
According to the authors, the regulation of the Thuringian constitution should ensure that a non-governmental period between two cabinets is prevented. Last week, Thomas Kemmerich (FDP) gave this problem of inability to act as a reason for not wanting to give up his position as Prime Minister directly.
According to information from the world, the explosive content of the text is being carefully checked in the red-red-green warehouse. Kemmerich will not attend the Federal Council meeting this Friday (February 14, 2020). He doesn't want to "provoke by his presence". Meanwhile, Benjamin-Immanuel Hoff (left) asked Kemmerich to represent the country in the Federal Council. "If Mr. Kemmerich does not appear, Thuringia is not quorate," he told the editorial network Germany. Because so far it was also the state that Thuringia will not be represented there due to the lack of a government. According to Meier and Wille, this could now be questioned again.
Update from Tuesday, February 11th, 2020, 4.15pm: The left not only benefits from current polls from the election chaos in Thuringia - since the controversial election of Thomas Kemmerich (FDP) as Thuringian Prime Minister, the party of Bodo Ramelow has been experiencing a wave of entry. 770 people have joined the party since the election, the Karl Liebknecht House in Berlin announced on Tuesday at the request of the German Press Agency. The party has a total of around 61,000 members.
"On the day of the Prime Minister election in Thuringia, our membership numbers increased tenfold," party leader Bernd Riexinger told the "Rheinische Post" last Friday (February 7th, 2020). In just a few hours after the events in Erfurt, his party had welcomed 113 new comrades across Germany. This trend now appears to be continuing.
The state association in Thuringia recorded around 110 new entrants. "People know that the Left is the most determined, most anti-fascist force," said Federal Managing Director Jörg Schindler. "They want to get involved in the current situation."
Update from Tuesday, February 11th, 2020, 11.45am: According to media reports, CDU member of the Bundestag Marco Wanderwitz is to become the Federal Government's new East Commissioner. With this, the politician, born in Chemnitz, would follow the Christian Hirte (CDU) who had been dismissed. So far, the 44-year-old Wanderwitz was State Secretary in the Ministry of the Interior. In parallel to the new post as East Commissioner, he is also to move to the Ministry of Economy as Parliamentary State Secretary.
After Thuringia election: Wanderwitz is to become the new Eastern Commissioner
His predecessor, Christian Hirte, resigned at the weekend at the instigation of Chancellor Angela Merkel. Hirte, who comes from Thuringia and is the deputy CDU chief there, had congratulated Thomas Kemmerich (FDP) on the election of the Thuringian FDP prime minister, who had been elected with AfD votes. There was a lot of criticism, which the Chancellor also shared. "Following your suggestion, I therefore asked for my release," said Shepherd.
Last Friday (February 7th, 2020) Marco Wanderwitz still defended his predecessor Hirte on Twitter against the growing criticism: "SPD and Greens are spanning arches with unsubstantiated demands for resignation," wrote Wanderwitz in a Twitter message.
The @ChristianHirte does a good job in the federal government. SPD & Greens span arches with baseless resignation demands. In particular, as Minister in Saxony, Mr. Dulig has no balance sheet that puts him in a position to point his finger at others. #Ostbeauftragter
- Marco Wanderwitz (@wanderwitz) February 7, 2020Update from Tuesday, February 11th, 2020, 11.45am: After the events surrounding the election of Thomas Kemmerich (FDP) as Prime Minister of Thuringia, the AfD wants to file a criminal complaint against Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU). The decision was made by the federal executive board of the AfD, the party said on Tuesday. The AfD accuses Merkel of coercion of the controversial Thuringian Prime Minister Kemmerich. In the warning with an injunction, Merkel was charged with abuse of office.
AfD files criminal charges against Angela Merkel
The background is the statement by Angela Merkel last Thursday (February 6th, 2020). On the sidelines of a visit to South Africa, Merkel had described Kemmerich's election with the votes of the CDU and AfD as "unforgivable" at a press meeting. The result of this process must be reversed, said Merkel. At the appointment, she also spoke indirectly for new elections.
Since Angela Merkel no longer holds a relevant function in the CDU, but instead reported on the events as a German head of government on a trip abroad, "there is a clear case of abuse of office with violation of the equal opportunities of the parties," said AfD federal spokesman Jörg Meuthen.
First announcement from Tuesday, February 11th, 2020, 07:23: After the debacle in Thuringia over the election of the FDP politician Thomas Kemmerich as prime minister, the left has grown significantly, according to a survey. The party of the former prime minister Bodo Ramelow reaches 39 percent in a lightning survey by the polling institute Infratest dimap, as the MDR Thuringia as the client said on Monday evening. That is eight percentage points more than in the state election in October 2019. With SPD (10 percent) and the Greens (5 percent), the former red-red-green government alliance would have a majority.
Thuringia: According to current surveys, red-red-green would have a majority
The CDU would be the big loser of the Erfurt election scandal in an upcoming state election - it has dropped to 13 percent, according to the information. At the election in October, the conservatives in the Free State still reached 21.7 percent. The Kemmerich FDP , which had barely cleared the five percent hurdle in October, would miss the entry into the state parliament by four percent. The AfD , on the other hand, would improve slightly from 23.4 to 24 percent.
Read all past events related to the Prime Minister election in Thuringia here
This shows that all parties involved in the election of Kemmerich did more harm than good to the election tactical maneuver. At least according to the current values, the FDP would sink into political insignificance in Thuringia , the CDU no longer played a significant role and the AfD would have no reason to cheer. After all, it would be enough for red-red-green .
Bodo Ramelow has the highest satisfaction ratings in Thuringia
Since last Wednesday, the left has been able to improve its values in various surveys.
Former Prime Minister Ramelow achieved the highest satisfaction levels - 67 percent of those surveyed are satisfied with his work. On the other hand, 65 percent are dissatisfied with the work of Thuringia's CDU state party and faction leader Mike Mohring, with FDP man Kemmerich the dissatisfaction value is 51 percent. In addition, around three quarters assume that the events surrounding the election of the prime minister have not only harmed the parties, but also the reputation of Thuringia.
For the survey, Infratest dimap interviewed 1007 eligible voters in Thuringia by phone from February 7-10, 2020 . (with dpa)
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