CSU boss
Bavarian state parliament re-elects Söder as Prime Minister
Markus Söder (CSU) is sworn in as Prime Minister of Bavaria during the special session of the Bavarian State Parliament
© Peter Kneffel / DPA
Bavaria’s old Prime Minister is also the new head of government. As expected, the Bavarian state parliament has re-elected the Franconian Markus Söder as the head of the state government.
A little more than three weeks after the state elections, Markus Söder was re-elected Bavarian Prime Minister. The CSU leader received the necessary simple majority of votes in the state parliament in Munich on Tuesday with 120 yes votes in the secret vote. A total of 198 MPs cast their votes, 76 voted against Söder and there were two abstentions.
Very close
Majority of CSU and Free Voters: Markus Söder’s re-election was a pure formality
Söder’s election was the only item on the agenda at the meeting. Thanks to the stable majority of CSU and Free Voters, Söder’s new election is a pure formality. The two government factions together have 122 of the total 203 representatives – two representatives from the CSU and Free Voters were missing from the vote.
This is Söder’s third election as prime minister. He was elected to office for the first time in March 2018 as the successor to Horst Seehofer. At that time, the CSU still had the absolute majority of representatives. After the state elections the following October, Söder was elected for the second time in November, this time with votes from the Free Voters who governed with the CSU. In the secret vote, Söder received 110 yes votes and 89 no votes with three abstentions, who thus achieved the necessary simple majority of the valid votes cast in the first round of voting.
Swearing in of the cabinet in the Bavarian state parliament
However, the formation of a government in Bavaria is not yet complete. Next week, on November 8th, the new cabinet is to be sworn in in the state parliament. Who will move into the cabinet for the CSU has not yet been officially announced.
The Free Voters, for their part, had already announced last Thursday after the coalition agreement was signed that, in addition to party leader Hubert Aiwanger (Economy), Thorsten Glauber (Environment), Anna Stolz (Culture) and Fabian Mehring (Digital) would also receive ministerial positions. Tobias Gotthard is to become the new Secretary of State for Economic Affairs.