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Party conference
Thuringia’s ex-state leader Mohring is withdrawing from the CDU board
The former Thuringian CDU state leader Mike Mohring (right) at the list party conference in February in Ilmenau. On the left in the picture is his successor Mario Voigt.
© Michael Reichel / DPA
There is no scandal: Shortly before the party conference, Thuringia’s CDU politician Mike Mohring announced that he would vacate his place on the federal executive board – but only involuntarily.
Contrary to previous plans, the former Thuringian is running CDU state chairman Mike Mohring is not running for his party’s federal executive committee again. The reason was the lack of nomination by his regional association, Mohring told the star. He did not want to run against the express wishes of his successor Mario Voigt in order to avoid damaging anyone in the election year. “So that’s what the state board decided.”
This means that the federal party conference is spared a possible scandal among East German candidates. In addition to the state party, Voigt also leads the state parliamentary group and is the top candidate for the Thuringian state elections on September 1st. He is running for the Federal Presidency.
Mohring, who has been considered enemies of Voigt for decades, has been a member of the federal executive board since 2010, with a brief interruption. Between 2018 and 2021 he was elected to the Federal Presidency.
Kemmerich election cost Mike Mohring his career
He became known nationwide after the 2019 state elections when he negotiated with the left-wing head of government Bodo Ramelow about a possible expert government after heavy CDU losses. In the prime ministerial election in February 2020, the majority of his group voted for the FDP candidate Thomas Kemmerich, who then found a narrow majority with the help of the AfD.
Although Mohring had warned internally about Kemmerich’s election, he had to resign from his office afterwards. After a failed candidacy for the Bundestag in 2021, he also lost his local party offices in the Weimarer Land district last year. The reason was that the district association he led at the time had paid for a celebration he had organized privately.
The board of the CDU Thuringia warns
The state executive committee under Voigt then called on Mohring by a large majority to relinquish all political offices and to relinquish the constituency nomination he had already made for the state parliament, of which he is still a member. The MP continues to reject this.
Voigt also publicly warned Mohring. The state executive board almost unanimously advised him against running for the federal executive board again, Voigt said in April star. But: “We are a free country and the CDU is a democratic party. Anyone who wants to run should run.”
But that doesn’t happen now. Nevertheless, Mohring does not rule out a comeback to the federal government at a later date. “Next time we will think again,” he told the star.