The new state parliament is meeting in Thuringia – and for the first time in the history of the Federal Republic, a parliament in which a right-wing extremist party has the largest faction. The session is eagerly awaited. The MPs want to elect a new state parliament president. As the strongest force, the AfD has the right to propose candidates. However, the other factions do not want to elect a candidate from this party, which is classified by the state’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution as definitely right-wing extremist. They therefore want to enforce different rules of procedure – which is legally tricky. The constituent session, which begins at 12 noon and can be seen here in the live stream, is likely to lead to a political and legal showdown.
The AfD, which received 32.8 percent of the vote in the state elections on September 1 and now has 32 of the 88 MPs, has nominated MP Wiebke Muhsal. She was sentenced to a fine in the previous legislative period for defrauding the state parliament of a member of staff’s salary. The CDU – the second strongest party in the state parliament with 23 seats – has presented its MP Thadäus König as its candidate.
:With new rules of procedure against the AfD?
The CDU and BSW want to prevent an AfD state parliament president – that’s not so easy. But perhaps there is a way out of the legal muddle surrounding the start of the new Thuringian parliament.
The current Prime Minister feels that the AfD’s proposal Bodo Ramelow (Left Party) described the election as “outrageous” and a provocation. “I cannot express my trust in Wiebke Muhsal – and I do so as a freely elected representative,” he said before the inaugural meeting. The AfD is thus once again damaging a constitutional body. Ramelow will remain in office as acting Prime Minister until a successor is elected.
In order to prevent an AfD state parliament president, there should be a different set of rules of procedure so that all parliamentary groups can make proposals right from the start in the presidential election. This requires that the other parliamentary groups – CDU, BSW, Left and SPD – vote largely unanimously. In the AfD’s view, the rules of procedure should not be changed at all before the election of the state parliament president. Legally, this is a complicated matter – in the end, the case could end up before the Thuringian Constitutional Court.
In any case, an AfD representative will have the floor in the state parliament this Thursday: Jürgen Treutler, as the oldest member, will open the session and chair it at the beginning, which gives him the opportunity to influence its course.