Thread by @jonworth

So the German State #Thueringen (Thurinigia) now has a Ministerpräsident (Prime Minister) - he is @bodoramelow of Die Linke (The Left)

This thread explains what happened and why, and why it is important

Thüringen has been in political turmoil since 5 February when - with support from the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD - populist right wingers) - the FDP (Liberal) politician Thomas Kemmerich was elected as Ministerpräsident

That the FDP had schemed to make this happen with the AfD, and with the tacit support of the CDU (Christian Democrats) broke a taboo of not collaborating with the populist right in German politics

The Thüringen FDP and, to a lesser extent the Thüringen CDU, were under immense pressure to change course from their respective national party HQs in Berlin

CDU Party Leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (AKK) demanded new elections in Thüringen but the local party refused that route, and that precipitated the end of AKK's term as party leader (that's a whole story in itself)

Today the Landtag (State Parliament) in Thüringen had another go to choose a Ministerpräsident and elected Ramelow, based on a sort of deal between the parties

Ramelow's party, Die Linke, and the SPD (Social Democrats) and Grüne (Greens) backed him throughout

FDP refused to vote throughout the whole process

CDU abstained in election rounds 1 and 2, and in round 3 just 1 of their 21 MdLs voted against Ramelow, the rest abstained

AfD leader Höcke ran against Ramelow in rounds 1 and 2 of the votes, and he received the 22 votes of the AfD MdLs each time

In the third round Höcke did not run, and the 22 AfD MdLs voted against Ramelow

Ramelow was hence elected with 42 of the 90 MdLs (or 42 of the 85 who actually voted) - only a plurality of the votes. The AfD might choose to then test the legality of this in court, as the Thüringen constitution is unclear on this point

So who are the winners and losers?

Die Linke and Ramelow have conducted themselves determinedly and clearly throughout - and now he is back as Ministerpräsident - probably until elections brought forward to April 2021. Well played 👍

SPD and Grüne have stood firmly with Ramelow throughout this, and as Ramelow is about as pragmatic a Linke politician you can find, this makes sense. The three party coalition these parties had in the last election period can persist. Well played 👍

CDU has managed to just about rescue the situation, at least in Thüringen. The hapless party leader Mike Mohring has - in the Landtag at least - been sidelined by @mariovoigt (who I've met a few times - he's sharp) - the CDU buys itself some time now - an election is a year away

CDU can also hope that by spring of next year the national leadership of the party is sorted out, and who the Kanzlerkandidat (Chancellor Candidate) is too. This, the Thüringen CDU hopes, will mean they avoid a disaster at the ballot boxes in the Land next year

FDP is in a desolate state, both in Thüringen and nationally. From the short lived euphoria of their trickery at the start of February they are now disowned by all and did not even vote today

Chances the party makes it back into the Landtag in Thüringen are low, and the party might even now struggle to get over the 5% hurdle for the Bundestag (Federal Parliament) election in autumn 2021

What is the FDP *for* currently?

AfD did not do too badly out of all of this. They showed there are people in FDP and CDU ready to cooperate with them. They played a clever game. Their position at the Landtag election in Thüringen in spring 2021 will probably be strengthened

And beyond the short term fortunes of all the parties, trying to get *anything* done in the Thüringen Landtag between now and spring next year is going to be one hell of a task - because Ramelow is going to have to try to get compromises out of the CDU... not simple at all

Anyway, that's where we are today. We could all have saved ourselves a lot of anguish by doing this back on 5 February. But the right outcome was found in the end.

We can breathe a small sigh of relief.

/ends