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Mario Voigt (CDU), party and parliamentary group leader, speaks at the CDU state representative meeting.
© Michael Reichel/dpa
The CDU wants to govern Thuringia again for the first time since 2014.
Party leader Mario Voigt should lead them into the state elections.
His predecessor Mike Mohring calls for more togetherness in the party.
Ilmenau - Party and parliamentary group leader Mario Voigt is supposed to bring the Thuringian CDU back into government as the top candidate after ten years of opposition.
The 47-year-old was elected to the top of the CDU's state list at a state representative meeting in Ilmenau on Saturday.
He received 91.7 percent of the votes - traditionally the CDU does not take abstentions into account.
Voigt's predecessor Mike Mohring, who was not put on the list of candidates for the state elections in September by the board, called for respect and more unity in the Thuringian CDU.
“A cold heart is not enough,” said the 52-year-old.
Voigt has long been considered a potential challenger to Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (Left) in the state elections on September 1, 2024. A three-way fight is expected in the election: According to the polls, Voigt is between the head of the Thuringian AfD, which is classified as right-wing extremist, Björn Höcke, and Incumbent Ramelow.
The state executive board had asked Mohring to resign from all positions after it became known that bills for a private party of his were said to have been billed to the CDU.
For this reason he is not on the list of candidates, said meeting leader Christian Herrgott.
However, his Weimarer Land district association had nominated Mohring as a direct candidate for the state election before the incident.
The CDU was the prime minister in Thuringia for more than two decades after reunification.
Since 2014, Ramelow has governed with a short interruption with a red-red-green coalition, which has no longer had a majority since 2020.
In surveys, the CDU is currently at 20 to 23 percent, far behind the AfD with values between 31 and 36 percent and well ahead of the Left, which as the governing party only has 15 to 17 percent.
In Ilmenau, the CDU also elects its candidates for the European elections on June 9th.
dpa