The Left Party in Thuringia (BSW) has expressed its support for a joint government with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). At a party convention in Ilmenau on Saturday, around 73 percent of the members voted in favor of the coalition agreement.
The CDU had already approved the draft for a so-called “Brombeer-coalition” [a play on words in the original text, referring to a mix of two drinks, beer and brombittel (a German fruit-flavored soft drink)]. The SPD will hold an online vote among its members until Monday.
After intense negotiations, BSW co-founder Sahra Wagenknecht advocated the approval of the agreed-upon paper on Saturday, saying: “I think it’s a good compromise.” The party has had its say and forced the CDU to accept things it would have never done on its own, she added.
The federal party leader had repeatedly intervened in the negotiations, particularly on the topics of the Ukraine war and the stationing of US rockets in Germany, which led to a dispute with Thuringia’s state leader Katja Wolf. Wolf, however, showed a conciliatory attitude on Saturday, saying: “We are two strong women who stand very close on the issues.”
However, the planned coalition may be problematic, as it lacks a majority in the Thuringian state parliament with only 44 out of 88 seats. Thuringia’s CDU leader Mario Voigt, despite this, plans to run for minister-president at the election on Thursday.