The second attempt at a prime minister election in Thuringia threatened to burst before it started. But now the authorities have given the all-clear: The coronavirus suspicion among a CDU politician is gone. All information in the news blog.
On Wednesday, the state parliament in Thuringia makes a new attempt to elect a prime minister. The former head of government Bodo Ramelow and AfD state and faction leader Björn Höcke stand for election. The renewed vote had become necessary after the FDP politician Thomas Kemmerich Had elected Prime Minister in early February with the help of the AfD. After a nationwide storm of protests, Kemmerich resigned. Two weeks ago, the Left, the SPD, the Greens and the CDU had signed a stability agreement to avoid another crisis.
7:59 p.m .: Corona suspicion not confirmed by Thuringian CDU deputy
The suspicion of corona infection in a CDU MP in Thuringia has not been confirmed. This was announced by the Ministry of Health in Erfurt. According to the laboratory of the Thuringian State Office for Consumer Protection, the test result was negative.
The plenary session for the Prime Minister election scheduled for Wednesday will take place as planned, as the Thuringian state parliament announced. The suspicion was announced on Tuesday, the CDU MP was in quarantine.
4.15 p.m .: Thuringian CDU MPs want to avoid crowds of people
Because of a suspected coronavirus infection in a Thuringian CDU MP, the remaining 20 members of the CDU parliamentary group want to avoid public events and large crowds for the time being. “Today we want to avoid the danger that someone else can be infected by us,” said the parliamentary director of the Thuringian CDU parliamentary group, Andreas Bühl, in Erfurt. We wish all those affected a speedy recovery – and that the suspicion should not be confirmed. It was announced on Tuesday that a CDU member of parliament was quarantined on suspected coronavirus infections.
2:55 pm: President of the state parliament: if the corona case is positive, the election will be postponed
According to the state parliament president Birgit Keller, the election of the prime minister in the Thuringian state parliament scheduled for this Wednesday will be postponed if the suspicion of a corona infection is confirmed by a CDU deputy. The scheduled state parliament session would be canceled in this case because a positive test result could not rule out that the parliamentarian had also infected other MPs, said Keller of the German Press Agency in Erfurt.
Holding a state parliament session in these circumstances runs the risk of putting other people at risk. “We have to react. We take the situation seriously.” According to the Ministry of Health, the test result on the suspected case is expected on Tuesday evening. “When it’s there, we will decide without panic,” said Keller. A member of the CDU parliamentary group is in quarantine, he was on a skiing holiday in Italy during the winter holidays with an infected 57-year-old man from the Saale-Orla district.
12.54 p.m .: Suspected coronavirus in the state parliament – effects on prime minister election?
A member of the CDU parliamentary group in the Thuringian state parliament is suspected that he may have been infected with the corona virus. A spokesman for the t-online.de faction confirmed: “Yes, there is a suspicion. The rapid test is running. A result is expected in the course of the afternoon.” The MP is currently in quarantine.
The deputy was on a skiing holiday in Italy during the winter holidays with a 57-year-old man from the Saale-Orla district infected with the new virus, said a spokesman for the Thuringian Ministry of Health. The impact of a possibly positive result on the Prime Minister election on Wednesday in the state parliament is currently unclear.
If the test is negative, the politician can vote in the election of the prime minister on Wednesday in the state parliament, said the ministry spokesman. “Then the quarantine can be lifted.” The politician shows no symptoms.
11:23: FDP does not want to participate in the prime ministerial election
The Thuringian FDP faction wants to leave the plenary hall in the Prime Minister election on Wednesday to express their rejection of both the left-wing politician Bodo Ramelow and the Thuringian AfD leader Björn Höcke. “If you want to document that you reject both candidates, you cannot take part in the ballot,” said the spokesman for the Thuringian FDP parliamentary group, Thomas Philipp Reiter. “Bild” had previously reported about it. Reiter argued that the ballot papers did not include no votes. “Abstention is not a no,” he said. According to him, there is a parliamentary decision on this.
9:11 am: Union doesn’t believe in Kuban’s proposal
Thuringia’s new CDU parliamentary group leader Mario Voigt has rejected the Young Union’s request to leave the state parliament hall in the Prime Minister election on Wednesday. MPs were not elected to shirk responsibility, Voigt told the MDR.
The head of the Junge Union: The CDU politician warns that the AfD could use the election again to outwit the Union. (Source: imago images)
7:05: JU boss: Union should stay away from election
The chairman of the Junge Union, Tilman Kuban, has asked the CDU Thuringian state parliamentarians to leave the plenary hall on Wednesday when the prime minister is elected. The decision of the CDU does not allow cooperation with the AfD or the Left Party – “neither indirect,” said the CDU politician to the newspapers of the Funke media group.
If the CDU MPs took part in the election, “the AfD could outsmart them if their MPs cast four votes for Ramelow in a secret ballot and then point their finger at the Union,” warned the chairman of the CDU / CSU youth organization. The left-wing politician Bodo Ramelow is consciously at risk of being elected with AfD votes.
Monday, March 2, 1:17 p.m .: Thuringian AfD chief Höcke runs for election as prime minister
The Thuringian AfD sends its regional party and faction leader Björn Höcke in the prime ministerial election on March 4. This was announced by the AfD group in Erfurt. Höcke is thus competing against the left-wing politician Bodo Ramelow.
1:03 p.m .: Succession of Mohring – Shepherd considers the candidacy
The resigned Federal Government Commissioner for the East, Christian Hirte, has not ruled out candidacy as the new head of the Thuringian CDU. Hirte told the German press agency: “After the parliamentary group, the top of the CDU must now be reorganized. For this we need the best possible team. Of course, in such an existential crisis, I am also ready to help.” In which function will be discussed openly with the district chairmen and decided on April 18 at a state party convention.
The CDU state parliamentary group elected university professor Mario Voigt as the new parliamentary group leader on Monday. His predecessor Mike Mohring had announced that he would not run again and would also withdraw from the regional party leadership.
Hirte, who is the deputy CDU chief in Thuringia, had resigned in mid-February after Thomas Kemmerich’s fiercely criticized congratulations on his election to be the new prime minister in Thuringia as an East German commissioner. Kemmerich had come into office with AfD votes. Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) then informed Shepherd that he could no longer be the East German commissioner.
11.17 a.m .: Mario Voigt follows Mohring at the head of the Thuringian CDU parliamentary group
University professor Mario Voigt succeeds Mike Mohring as the new head of the Thuringian CDU parliamentary group. The deputy head of the regional party achieved the necessary majority in the event of an unscheduled election of the board, as the CDU parliamentary group announced in Erfurt. According to a group spokesman, there were no opponents. The 43-year-old university professor for digital transformation and politics received 15 yes votes at the parliamentary group meeting; 3 MPs voted against him, 3 abstained.
At the latest after the debacle over the election of the FDP politician Thomas Kemmerich as the Thuringian prime minister, Mohring was under massive pressure both publicly and within his own ranks. Before the election of the parliamentary board, Mohring had announced that it would not run again and would also like to withdraw from the regional party leadership at the same time.
6.16 a.m .: Kemmerich election brings a lot of citizens’ mail to the state parliament
After the sensational Prime Minister election in early February, an unusually large number of people turned to the state parliament with their opinion on the political situation. “The number of contacts was greatly increased,” said a spokesman for the state administration of the German Press Agency. Around 200 people had mainly written emails to the state administration. “But there were also occasional mailings and phone calls, according to current knowledge, no one has personally presented.”
Mail addressed to individual political actors was forwarded to them. Mail that contained a specific question had been answered. “Some of them answered Birgit Keller herself.”
According to the spokesman, opinions expressed to the parliament spanned the entire political spectrum. Some people criticized the election of the FDP politician Thomas Kemmerich as prime minister with votes from the AfD. “Others congratulated on the election,” he said. Others have criticized Kemmerich’s resignation due to public pressure.
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