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Thuringian CDU parliamentary group leader Mario Voigt: "We won't let us be part of this staging"
Photo: Martin Schutt / dpa
The Thuringian CDU parliamentary group wants to remain seated in the vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) scheduled for Friday and not vote.
The vote had been requested by the AfD parliamentary group.
Their parliamentary group leader Bernd Höcke would replace Ramelow as head of government if he received 46 votes and thus an absolute majority.
However, the venture is considered hopeless, as the AfD parliamentary group only has 22 seats in the Erfurt state parliament. All other parliamentary groups had announced that they did not want to support Höcke. "The most visible sign that the CDU parliamentary group can set is that the CDU parliamentary group does not participate in this farce that the AfD parliamentary group is initiating," said Thuringia's CDU parliamentary group leader Mario Voigt now on the sidelines of a state parliament meeting.
The CDU parliamentarians wanted to document their position by not leaving their plenary benches during the vote, announced the parliamentary group in the Thuringian state parliament.
The vote of no confidence is a roll-call vote to which each member is called individually - the CDU members of the state parliament want to evade it.
Voigt spoke of an attempt by the AfD to "make this parliament contemptible".
"We will not allow ourselves to be made part of this production."
After the failure of the planned dissolution of the state parliament and subsequent new elections, the AfD parliamentary group had submitted the request for a constructive vote of no confidence.
Ramelow is supposed to be overthrown as head of government of the red-red-green minority government.
The Thuringian state politics has been in turmoil since the state elections in 2019.
At that time, the red-red-green coalition that had ruled until then lost its majority.
In February 2020, the state parliament briefly elected the FDP parliamentary group leader Thomas Kemmerich as prime minister with the votes of the AfD and the CDU, which caused outrage nationwide.
Kemmerich resigned a little later, Ramelow then decided another vote against AfD parliamentary group leader Höcke in the third ballot and has since led with a minority government made up of the left, the SPD and the Greens.
This actually wanted to bring early elections on the way.
FDP threatens to lose its parliamentary group status
Thuringia's Landtag President Keller said she could understand that many citizens were angry about the failure of the new elections.
The members of the state parliament have a common goal of strengthening confidence in parliament again.
"What Thuringia needs is a strong parliament that guides our federal state well through the challenges."
The FDP parliamentary group in the state parliament will soon lose its status as such.
The background to this is the resignation of MP Ute Bergner.
She had left the party earlier this month.
Bergner had also announced that he wanted to vote for the dissolution of the Thuringian state parliament.
The other four MEPs in the group did not want that.
At least five members are required for recognition as a parliamentary group.
fek / dpa / AFP