Former Prime Minister Ramelow from the Left Party has made a proposal to solve the government crisis in Thuringia: CDU politician Lieberknecht should become head of government for 70 days – and prepare new elections.
Almost two weeks after the election debacle in Thuringia, former Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow of the Left Party temporarily proposed his predecessor, CDU politician Christine Lieberknecht, as head of government. Ramelow made the proposal in the evening at a meeting of the Left, the SPD and the Greens and the CDU.
Lieberknecht should head a “technical government”, said Ramelow. This should consist of the Minister of Justice, Finance and the head of the State Chancellery and the Prime Minister.
According to Susanne Hennig-Wellsow, head of the state of the Left, the proposal specifically stipulates that the state parliament will initially decide to dissolve in early March with a two-thirds majority. Afterwards the parliament should elect Lieberknecht as prime minister. The head of government should then prepare new elections with the three ministers within 70 days.
“Contribution to stabilizing the country”
Ramelow said that he himself would not initially run for prime minister in the state parliament, but would run for his party in new elections. This is his “contribution to stabilizing the country”. The sentence from his government statement in December was that now was “the hour of more democracy and less party book”.
SPD welcomes the proposal, other parties react cautiously
Thuringia’s head of the SPD, Wolfgang Tiefensee, welcomed Ramelow’s advance. “This is a very good proposal,” he said. “Great respect for Bodo Ramelow for withdrawing himself, clearing the way for a technical government.”
The negotiating group of the Thuringian CDU parliamentary group reacted cautiously. “We believe that the most important thing is that at the end of a process, the AfD cannot become stronger than it already is,” said Thuringia’s CDU Vice President Mario Voigt. The CDU had previously signaled that it was not interested in new elections. The background should also be that, according to surveys, it has lost a lot of favor with voters. Now she wants to talk about Ramelow’s proposal in her committees, Voigt announced.
Even the Greens were initially not enthusiastic about Ramelow’s push. They continue to prefer the variant “that an effective government under Bodo Ramelow is quickly established,” said state spokeswoman Ann-Sophie Bohm-Eisenbrandt.
Looking for a way out of the crisis
The parliamentary groups in the state parliament have been looking for a way out of the political crisis for almost two weeks. The trigger was the debacle in the Prime Minister election on February 5. That day, the election of FDP politician Thomas Kemmerich, with votes from the CDU, FDP and, to a large extent, the AfD as prime minister, caused a political earthquake. The 54-year-old resigned three days later. Since then, Kemmerich has been managing director without a minister until a new prime minister is elected.
Head of government from 2009 to 2014
The Christian Democrats refuse to actively elect former Prime Minister Ramelow to the office of head of government. The Christian Democrats are prohibited by a federal party convention from any form of cooperation with the AfD and the left.
The 61-year-old Lieberknecht was head of government in Thuringia from 2009 to 2014 and at that time led a coalition of the CDU and SPD. After the state elections in 2014, the SPD opted for an alliance with the left and the Greens. This led to a change of power, even though the CDU remained the strongest parliamentary group at the time.
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