Prime Minister election: “Thuringian Innovation”: Voigt becomes head of government with the help of the Left

The feared shake-up didn’t happen: Thuringia’s state parliament elected CDU state leader Mario Voigt as Prime Minister – even though his nationwide unique blackberry coalition of CDU, BSW and SPD does not have a majority. Of all people, the Left, whose long-time head of government Bodo Ramelow is replaced by the 47-year-old, helped Voigt into office in the first round of voting.

The unprecedented process is due to a stalemate in the state parliament and an extraordinarily strong AfD with its right-winger Björn Höcke – and not least the debacle of 2020, when the FDP politician Thomas Kemmerich came to the office of Prime Minister thanks to AfD votes and a few days later resigned again,

But the election also raises questions: How does the CDU feel about its incompatibility decision, i.e. its clear rejection of cooperation with the Left – in an East German state parliament with such difficult majority conditions as in Thuringia? And: Is the time ripe for unusual majorities?

The blackberry coalition, which was not only celebrated with a blackberry bush by the BSW for the new head of government, has 44 of 88 votes in the state parliament in Erfurt – a stalemate. For the Wagenknecht party, the coalition in Thuringia is the second entry into a state government after Brandenburg in the year the party was founded.

There was no fiasco like 2020

Voigt himself could hardly believe his election, which took place just a few minutes after the start of the state parliament session: 51 MPs voted for the political scientist with a doctorate. 33 voted against him, four abstained. Actually only 45 yes votes were necessary. Because of the secret voting in voting booths, it remained unclear whether votes also came from the AfD.

It is the first time in years that a prime minister was elected in the first round of voting in Thuringia. In 2020, the prime ministerial election was a fiasco. At that time, the AfD voted for the FDP politician Kemmerich instead of its candidate. He accepted the election before resigning three days later after protests and public pressure.

No tolerance, no majorities with the AfD

There is a “spirit of cooperation and a new political culture,” said Voigt in his inaugural speech as head of government, in which he also expressly thanked his predecessor Ramelow. “I also appreciate that today was a first-round election.” When asked, Ramelow confirmed that he was one of Voigt’s voters in the state parliament.

This was made possible because Germany’s first blackberry coalition reached an agreement with the Left at the last minute before the state parliament session so that the election outcome would not depend on the AfD. “The AfD must not be given a stage,” said the Thuringian Left parliamentary group leader Christian Schaft, explaining the decision.

The appointment does not mean any tolerance. Rather, there is an official discussion format to “achieve democratic majorities.” Left leader Ulrike Grosse-Röthig demanded that the agreement, which excludes mutual blackmail attempts with the help of AfD votes, apply throughout the entire five-year legislative period.

Expert: Incompatibility decision repealed

With the formation of a government, a new nationwide experiment in parliamentary cooperation begins in Thuringia. Even according to experts, this is not a matter of tolerance. The Thuringian construct cannot be tolerated because it only involves the formation of majorities with the left in individual cases, says Erfurt political scientist André Brodocz.

The Bochum political scientist Oliver Lembcke speaks of a “Thuringian innovation”. The CDU’s decision to be incompatible with the Left has therefore effectively been repealed. This refers to strategic coordination with left or right. “This seems to me to be an increased strategic coordination,” said Lembcke about the Thuringian Mechanism. The left actually has a “veto position”.

CDU leader Friedrich Merz congratulated his party colleague Voigt on Platform

Learned the political craft from scratch

Voigt is Germany’s youngest prime minister. He was born in Thuringia, lives with his wife and two children in Jena and is an experienced state politician – he has been a member of parliament in Erfurt for 15 years. His coalition partners attest that he conducted the negotiations constructively and persistently and that a relationship of trust was created between the unequal partners.

Voigt learned the political business from scratch: at the age of 17 he contacted the CDU, became state chairman of the Junge Union and later CDU general secretary, but also made excursions into business and science. Shortly after the Thuringian government crisis in 2020, Voigt became parliamentary group and party leader.

Left parliamentary group leader Schaft has already made it clear that the Left will vote no to certain blackberry projects in migration policy – for example the creation of deportation detention centers. Erfurt political scientist André Brodocz thinks this could become a big problem for the new coalition. “Without the AfD, they would not have a majority for their migration policy ideas.” But we have to wait and see whether the left will stick together on these issues.

The political scientist Lembcke goes even further: “If they do it with the AfD, the blackberry is dead because the SPD will leave. If they don’t do it with the AfD, they can’t do it.”