After Kemmerich's election, it was agreed that parliament would be dissolved with a new election in April.
But doubts are being raised as to whether this is even feasible in view of the corona pandemic.
Erfurt / Stuttgart - The
new election of the Thuringian state parliament
planned for April 25
is
on the brink
because of the
Corona * pandemic
.
With a view to the high number of infections, the
Greens parliamentary group
advocated postponing the dissolution of parliament and thus the new election.
In view of the situation, it is a "command of common sense to rethink the new election date that has been targeted so far," said parliamentary group leader
Astrid Rothe-Beinlich
on Monday.
The
SPD *
parliamentary group chairman,
Matthias Hey
, expressed skepticism that the planned new election date can still be met.
“I have no doubt about the meaning of a
new election in April
, but I have considerable doubts about the feasibility of a
state election
.
And these doubts grow with every new infection in the country, "said Hey the
German press agency
.
New elections in Thuringia pending: Ramelow is skeptical about the corona pandemic
Previously,
Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow
(Left *) had
expressed skepticism in an interview in the ZDF “heute journal” about whether
April 25
could be held
as the election date
.
If there is no movement in the infection numbers in January and February, "we will have to help decide that too," said Ramelow.
Everyone involved would have to think about it.
30,000 election workers would have to be protected.
Ramelow also emphasized that, as Prime Minister, the decision on the election date "is none of his business at the moment".
He does not want to anticipate the deliberations of the parties this week.
The virus is only really picking up speed now, said Ramelow.
"I notice that my hut is on fire in Thuringia."
The parliamentary group and state chairman of the Left,
Susanne Hennig-Wellsow
, said her group was going into the deliberations with the position that a vote on the dissolution of the state parliament should first be requested in due time.
If the
infection rate
remains
as large as it is at present or even worsens, this application can be withdrawn.
For a
new election
, the
Thuringian state parliament must
first be dissolved with a two-thirds majority.
Then there are only 70 days to elect a new parliament - this is what the state constitution provides.
The vote for a dissolution must be requested - only votes from a third of the 90 members of the state parliament are required.
Left, SPD and Greens together have 42 votes.
Corona pandemic in Thuringia: Incidence value in urban and rural districts over 200
Rothe-Beinlich pointed out that the
incidence
value in all urban and rural districts of Thuringia is currently
more than 200 infections
per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days.
You and Hey also pointed out that after the state parliament was dissolved, the district associations of all parties running for election would have to invite district assemblies to elect delegates.
In addition, lists would have to be drawn up at state party conferences.
All Thuringian districts and urban districts have exceeded the alarm value of 200 and the state of Thuringia has reached 314. The numbers remain alarming and the number of infections is far too high.
Fewer contacts means fewer chances for the virus!
pic.twitter.com/eduorc9506
- Bodo Ramelow (@bodoramelow) January 10, 2021
“Election campaigns also thrive on direct communication with citizens.
And experience shows that around 30,000 election workers are needed to run a state election smoothly.
None of this is currently responsible, ”emphasized Rothe-Beinlich.
The chairmen and the parliamentary managing directors of the parliamentary groups as well as the
party
leaders of the
Linker, SPD, Greens and CDU
want to meet on Thursday to discuss the
dissolution of the state parliament and new elections
.
Dissolution of the state parliament and new elections: Thuringian government crisis after Kemmerich's election
After the
Thuringian government
crisis, the four parties
agreed on a stability
mechanism
with the surprising election of
FDP politician Thomas Kemmerich
as Prime Minister at the beginning of 2020 in order to be able to form majorities in the state parliament.
Since the subsequent election of
Bodo Ramelow
(Left) as Prime Minister, Thuringia has been governed by a
minority coalition
of the Left, SPD and Greens, which is dependent on votes from the CDU in the state parliament.
However, the stability agreement also meant that this model would expire after a budget had been adopted and that the parties would then agree to the dissolution of the state parliament so that a new state parliament could be elected on April 25.
The four groups approved the budget for 2021 in December.
Planned federal election on September 26th - CDU parliamentary group is keeping a low profile on the Thuringian state election
For a postponement of the agreed resolution of parliament and thus the
new election
, the four parliamentary groups would have to agree on a new election date.
According to reports, the talks are
about voting
together with
Saxony-Anhalt
in the summer or setting the date for the
planned federal election on September 26th
.
The Greens Group announced that it would also support the maintenance of the April deadline, should this be the result of the negotiations.
The
CDU * faction
initially kept a
low profile
.
Parliamentary group leader
Mario Voigt
said: "What has been agreed applies." The left-wing
parliamentary
group had signaled a need for discussion, which is why the next steps will be discussed on Thursday.
State elections in Baden-Württemberg: The Greens propose a postal vote
In
Baden-Württemberg there
is also a debate about how to deal with the upcoming state elections.
The ruling party
The Greens *
is currently proposing another solution.
In their campaign for the state elections, the Greens are aggressively calling on citizens to
vote by post
.
You expect a lot of postal voters, you want to take up that, said
state chairwoman Sandra Detzer
on Monday at the presentation of the national association's election campaign.
"In the pandemic, this is a safe and pandemic-compatible form of expressing political will," said Detzer.
The Greens want to advertise postal voting with the slogan “Choose where you want”.
An
Instagram story
is to be rolled out under the motto “Show us your personal polling station” - there, postal voters themselves can upload photos of the places where they make their cross.
The Greens
wanted to lower
the hurdles for
postal voting in parliament
in November
.
A corresponding change in the state election law failed due to
resistance from the CDU
.
"We assume that
postal votes will play an unprecedented role
," said
Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann
(Greens).
When asked, he said that he could
not imagine
postponing the election date
even if the corona situation remained tense.
“The rules for postponing election dates are extremely tight under constitutional law.” The situation will not change just because the date on March 14 is now postponed two to four weeks.
“We won't do that,” said Kretschmann.
“It would be much too late for that.”
(Dpa / afp) * Merkur.de is part of the Ippen-Digital network.
List of rubric lists: © Patrick Pleul / zb / dpa