State election
Ramelow with coalition offer to the CDU – Voigt waves it off
Thuringia Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (l) shakes hands with CDU opponent Mario Vogt. photo
© Bodo Schackow/dpa
A new state parliament will be elected in Thuringia in just under three months. But the political situation is considered complicated. Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow wants to build a bridge for the CDU.
He had responsibility in Thuringia for ten years. “I would like the respect that the CDU would have the courage to talk to me about how we can get a suitable state government that has its own majority,” said Ramelow. “Then you would have to take unusual paths.”
Voigt waved his hand: “Ten years of red-red-green is enough for Thuringia.” He is fighting for a change and to do better than the AfD. An incompatibility decision prohibits the CDU from forming a coalition with the Left.
Complicated search for majorities
A new state parliament will be elected in Thuringia on September 1st. The political situation in the Free State has been considered complicated for years. Ramelow is currently governing with a coalition of the Left, the SPD and the Greens, which does not have its own majority in parliament and against whose will the opposition has already passed laws several times – with the help of AfD votes.
Ramelow said in Weimar that he did not want a minority government. “We need a state government that has a majority in parliament.” Representatives of the chambers of commerce had also previously wanted a majority government for Thuringia.
At the same time, he said that whichever of the two did better in the state elections should have the preference to form a government and appoint the Prime Minister. “I am ready to start talking to you democratically after September 1st at 6:01 p.m. Whichever of us gets the vote from the population should take care of how the government is formed,” said Ramelow reiterated that he was not fighting against any other party than the AfD.
In surveys, the CDU was recently in second place with around 20 percent, the Left at 16 percent and the AfD in first place with 30 percent.