The Federal Constitutional Court has reprimanded then-Chancellor Angela Merkel for her comments on the election of Thuringia’s prime minister in 2020. Merkel had made negative comments about the AfD “in a one-sided, partisan manner,” said Deputy Court President Doris König when the verdict was announced. In doing so, she violated the right of the AfD to equal opportunities in political competition.
The AfD had sued because Merkel had sharply criticized the election of the FDP politician Thomas Kemmerich, who came into office on February 5, 2020 with the votes of the AfD. After Bodo Ramelow (left) did not get an absolute majority in the first two ballots, Kemmerich was nominated in the third round. There he was surprisingly elected not only by the CDU and FDP, but also by the AfD. Kemmerich accepted the election, but resigned three days later under great pressure. He continued to conduct official business without a government until March.
Merkel, who was no longer CDU leader at the time, called the election “unforgivable” and demanded that the result be “undone.” February 5, 2020 was “a bad day for democracy,” she said at a press conference in South Africa, where she was visiting at the time. A transcript of the press conference was meanwhile available on bundeskanzlerin.de and bundesregierung.de. Merkel prefaced her statements on the election in Thuringia as a “preliminary remark” “for domestic political reasons”.
Sometimes an interference with the equal opportunities of the parties can be justified
Deputy Court President König said that Merkel spoke “in an exclusively official context”. Neither the introductory remark that it was a “preliminary remark” nor the actual content indicated that she wanted to speak exclusively as a party politician and not as chancellor.
The AfD had rated Merkel’s statements as a direct attack. The then co-party leader Jörg Meuthen, who has since left the AfD, said: “She tried to delegitimize a state election, in the exercise of her office as Chancellor.”
At the oral hearing in Karlsruhe in July 2021, Merkel’s Chancellor Helge Braun (CDU) defended the statements by saying that the journalists traveling with him and, above all, the coalition partner wanted a position. It was also about the international reputation of the Federal Republic of Germany. König said that in certain cases an interference with the equal opportunities of the parties could be justified. However, it is not apparent here that the Federal Government’s ability to act and stability were affected by the election in Thuringia.
AfD party leader Tino Chrupalla was triumphant after the decision: “The statements made by the Chancellor in South Africa on the election of the prime minister in Thuringia were presumptuous, inappropriate and undemocratic. This has now been confirmed by the highest court,” he wrote in a press release. Merkel not only violated the rights of the AfD – she violated the constitution and interfered in the democratic decision-making process. “After such a slap in the face, a resignation would have been due. Merkel is lucky that she is spared this as ex-Chancellor.”