The election debacle in the east has thrown political Berlin into turmoil. The traffic light parties only managed to get 13.3 percent in Saxony, and only 10.4 percent in Thuringia. The Greens left the Erfurt state parliament, and the FDP left Erfurt and Dresden. The calls for new elections from the opposition are getting louder – and there is also a lot of unrest internally.
You can find all developments surrounding a potential traffic light shutdown here.
Performance of the traffic light coalition in the Eastern elections:
provisional official final results of the state elections
+++ To update click HERE +++
13:54: Critical voices are increasing in the FDP parliamentary group. Vice-chairwoman Gyde Jensen openly admits that she is questioning the current traffic light coalition policy: “In the next few days, we must find a clear answer to the question of whether the traffic light coalition will really help our country – or whether it will actually end up damaging the country and our democracy,” she told the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland.
“If we continue to sugarcoat things now, it would only be an escape from reality. From a purely legal perspective, the traffic light coalition has certainly not lost its legitimacy, but that is not the decisive category in a democracy,” said the 35-year-old. An early end to the traffic light coalition also seems to play a role. “For citizens, a coalition does not mean a union for better or for worse, just because a legislative period lasts four years.”
11.15 am: In Thuringia, none of the traffic light coalition partners will be involved in forming a government. Their influence in Saxony would also be marginal, if at all. Instead, the biggest opposition competitor, the CDU, will emerge as the election winner and could have two minister presidents, Kretschmer and Voigt. It is therefore not surprising that the CDU denies the traffic light coalition its legitimacy to govern. “The traffic light coalition has not only lost. The traffic light coalition is a smoking ruin. We don’t just need a few different minds. What we need is a different policy in Germany,” said Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder, for example.
+++ Comment on the Chancellor’s performance: Olaf Scholz is the “best chancellor” of all time – who tells the voters? +++
But the traffic light coalition is also taking an offensive approach after the debacle in the East. “People no longer want to hear who was to blame in the past and that this was Mrs Merkel’s heavy burden,” said Finance Minister Lindner with Looking at the destructive blame game within the government.
It became even clearer SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert – he basically issued an ultimatum to the traffic light coalition. “We now have twelve months until the federal election, which means that time is running out to get legislation through. At some point we have to look each other in the eye and say: it’s all or nothing,” said the 35-year-old.
