As of: February 24, 2024, 3:19 p.m
Comments
Press
Split
Klaus Wagner (CDU, r), candidate for the state election, follows 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.
He promises a change in policy - and excludes two coalition options.
Ilmenau - Thuringia's party and parliamentary group leader Mario Voigt is supposed to bring the 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 vote - traditionally the CDU does not take abstentions into account.
Three-way battle Voigt, Höcke, Ramelow expected
In his application speech, Voigt made it clear: With him and the CDU, after the state elections in September, there would be neither a coalition with Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow's left nor with the AfD, which is classified as right-wing extremist, and its leader Björn Höcke.
In doing so, Voigt countered discussions that, given the foreseeable difficult majority situation after the election, the CDU would also have to take new paths to prevent an AfD prime minister.
Voigt's predecessor Mike Mohring in particular made this statement, who also called the left beyond a coalition.
A three-way fight is expected in the election on September 1st: According to the polls, Voigt is between Höcke and Ramelow.
Mohring, who was party and parliamentary group leader until 2020, wants to run as a direct candidate in the state elections - the board had excluded him from the list of candidates.
Voigt: “I want this government to be voted out of office.”
In Ilmenau, the CDU top candidate confirmed that “we want to take on political responsibility”.
The CDU stands for a change in policy.
The red-red-green state government is tired and weak, and Thuringia has fallen behind compared to other federal states in terms of economic growth and education, among other things.
“I want this government to be voted out of office.”
Voigt is apparently not planning a frontal attack on the Left or the AfD.
In the election campaign, it should above all be made clear what the CDU stands for, he said.
“Let’s not talk so much about others this year,” he urged the delegates.
People wanted change.
“We stand for one with decency and reason.”
Member of the state parliament Meissner in second place on the list
Voigt named the CDU's political goals as strengthening families with children, reducing bureaucracy, more support "for the hard-working people in this country" and health care in which every Thuringian can reach a doctor or pharmacy within 20 minutes.
More order should also be created in migration policy.
“We have to get immigration under control,” he said.
Greiz district administrator Martina Schweinsburg, a pioneer of payment cards for asylum seekers, demanded that the CDU must improve its poll numbers with practical policies.
My news
Verdi: Collective bargaining in local transport canceled read
Mario Voigt leads the Thuringian CDU into the state elections
1 hour ago
More than 700 exhibitors at consumer exhibitionread
No more citizen's benefit for newly arriving Ukraine refugees
Seven people died in the horror crash: the driver of the death probably had a blood alcohol content of 1.3
Men attack paramedics and injure police officers
A state list with 88 candidates was chosen - and thus for all seats in the state parliament.
State parliament member Beate Meißner came in second with 81.1 percent.
Schweinsburg rejected a candidacy against Meißner, which she was asked to do by individual party friends.
The 65-year-old wants to be a direct candidate in the state parliament.
The CDU was the head of government for two decades
Mohring, who was not taken into account, called for respect - for the differences between people - even with their mistakes.
The CDU could set an example.
“A cold heart is not enough.” The 52-year-old told the dpa: “I am not holding a grudge.
I will actively support my party.” The state executive committee had asked Mohring to resign from all positions after it became known that bills for a private party of his had been billed through the CDU.
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.
dpa