Linken leader Jan van Aken warns against the election of a Thuringian CDU prime minister with a vote of confidence from the AfD. At the same time, he called on the Union to close a cooperation agreement with the Left Party shortly before the election.
“It is irresponsible and dangerous that the Thuringian CDU wants to go into the election for the prime minister without a majority and without a fixed agreement with the democratic opposition,” said van Aken to the “Stern”. “The chairman of the CDU state association, Mario Voigt, has it in his hand not to be elected with the votes of the AfD.”
Voigt will present himself for the election of the new prime minister in the Erfurt state parliament on Thursday. However, his planned coalition with the BSW and the SPD only has a majority of the 88 seats in the parliament, half of the necessary majority.
“44 votes of CDU, BSW, and SPD in the state parliament are no majority,” said van Aken. He called on the CDU chairman to “show responsibility now”. He expected from him to “put back his own interests and conclude a stable agreement for five years with our party in Thuringia.”
Van Aken recalled that the Thuringian CDU, about five years ago, had elected the liberal Thomas Kemmerich as prime minister, with a vote of confidence from the AfD and the FDP. Then, Voigt made a so-called stability agreement with the red-red-green minority government and ensured that the Left’s Bodo Ramelow returned to the prime minister’s office. “Apparently, Mario Voigt has not learned anything from February 5, 2020,” van Aken said.