Thuringia’s state parliament crisis appears to be over for the time being. According to a ruling by the constitutional judges, the AfD senior president, who had shaken up parliament two days ago, adhered to the rules.
“Debacle”, “seizure of power”, “attempted coup” – after a chaotic state parliament session and a power word from the constitutional judges, things now happened very quickly: the second attempt by the Thuringian parliament after the crisis meeting on Thursday ended with an almost complete state parliament presidium and a new president Promised bipartisanship.
The CDU politician Thadäus König is now at the head of the constitutional body after the AfD tried to assert its claim to the office as the strongest faction in a turbulent first part of the meeting two days ago. The Constitutional Court in Weimar showed her and her senior president Jürgen Treutler a stop sign. Experts called the events in Erfurt unprecedented in German parliamentary history, and the theater reminded some of events in the Weimar Republic.
King wants to act impartially
“You can be sure that, in accordance with the constitution and the rules of procedure, I will protect the dignity and rights of the state parliament, promote its work, conduct negotiations fairly and impartially and maintain order in the house,” said König in his first speech as President of the state parliament. The sentence seemed like a contrast to the actions of the senior president, who chaired the first meeting until King was elected.
In the first part of the meeting, the 73-year-old Treutler withdrew representatives from speaking, did not allow votes and gave a speech that was criticized by many representatives as partisan. At the request of the CDU, the case ended up before the Constitutional Court of the Free State, which set clear limits for Treutler.
Constitutional judges contradict AfD legal opinion
“The state parliament already has the quorum in the constitution phase,” decided the Weimar constitutional judges, clearly against the legal opinion of the AfD faction. They also made it clear that, according to the constitution, there is neither an exclusive right of nomination for an individual faction nor a right to elect a specific candidate. The constitutional judges also commented on the right to make proposals in the state parliament presidential election: “The intended regulation, which stipulates that all factions – and not just the strongest faction – are allowed to submit nominations for the election of the state parliament president in the first round of voting does not violate constitutional law.”
Regarding Treutler’s chairing of the meeting, the highest judges in the Free State noted that he was not entitled to refuse to determine whether there was a quorum or to vote on the agenda. Constitutional lawyers had already assessed Treutler’s actions on Thursday as a breach of the constitution and illegal. Treutler announced at the beginning of the meeting on Saturday that he would adhere to the decision from Weimar.
AfD doubts the independence of the constitutional judges
Thuringia’s AfD leader Stefan Möller described the constitutional judges’ decision as disappointing. “I admit that I now have considerable doubts about the political neutrality and impartiality of some judges,” said Möller, who is himself a lawyer. The judiciary in Germany is independent. AfD party and parliamentary group leader Björn Höcke said on the sidelines of the state parliament session that the AfD, as the winner of the state elections in Thuringia, had been deprived of the state parliament presidency through a “sleight of hand”.
Thuringia’s CDU leader Mario Voigt described the second attempt after the aborted state parliament session on Thursday as the “first day for better times” – also for Thuringia’s reputation. He saw an insight in the AfD “that it has overreached, an insight into what is necessary,” he said about the course of the meeting.
State parliament leadership almost complete
The AfD in Thuringia is classified and monitored by the state Office for the Protection of the Constitution as proven right-wing extremist. She had nominated MP Wiebke Muhsal, who comes from North Rhine-Westphalia, as a candidate for the post of state parliament president. The CDU, BSW, Left and SPD factions viewed the personnel as a provocation. Muhsal was sentenced to a fine for fraud years ago. Courts found it proven that she had advanced an employment contract with an employee by two months in 2014 in order to receive additional money from the state parliament administration. She failed in the election and did not achieve a majority as a candidate for the post of Vice President of the State Parliament.
However, Voigt and others reiterated that the AfD was also entitled to a vice-presidential position. “The offer stands.” It initially remained unclear whether and when the AfD, which is the strongest faction in a German state parliament for the first time, would make use of this.
The former MDR presenter Steffen Quasebarth was elected as vice-president of parliament for the Wagenknecht party BSW, the psychologist Lena Saniye Güngör for the Left and the doctor Cornelia Urban for the SPD.
Source: Stern
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