Whirl around Thuringian state elections: Constitutional Court examines Merkel’s comment


Whirlwind about the Thuringian state election
Constitutional Court examines Merkel’s comment

In February 2020, Thomas Kemmerich will surprisingly be elected Prime Minister of Thuringia – with votes from the AfD. Merkel takes a position on the scandal and criticizes the process as “unforgivable”. The AfD is now accusing the Chancellor of violating her duty of neutrality and is going to court.

The election of the FDP politician Thomas Kemmerich as the Thuringian Prime Minister with votes from the AfD will be a case for the Federal Constitutional Court. On July 21, the Karlsruhe judges want to deal with the question of whether Chancellor Angela Merkel was allowed to comment on this at an official press conference during a trip abroad and whether the statements were allowed to be published on the websites of the Chancellor and the Federal Government.

After the election in South Africa at the beginning of February 2020, Merkel said at a state reception: “The election of this Prime Minister was a unique process that broke with a basic conviction for the CDU and for me that no majorities could be won with the help of the AfD should.” The process is “unforgivable”, the result must be reversed. “It was a bad day for democracy.” The CDU should not participate in a government under Kemmerich.

It is atypical for the Chancellor to comment on domestic politics on trips abroad. From the AfD’s point of view, the Chancellor and the Federal Government have violated their duty to be neutral in the political battle of opinion and thus violated the AfD’s right to equal opportunities for political parties, as the court announced. With the statement and its publications, they had inadmissibly claimed official authority or state resources for a “negative qualification” of the AfD.

Merkel only turned to the CDU

According to the communication, the other side is of the opinion that neither the statement nor its publications are constitutionally objectionable. Merkel did not speak in an official capacity, but as a party politician. In addition, she only turned to the CDU. The AfD is only indirectly affected. The statement was then published for “reasons of the overall documentation” of the state reception.

The state parliament in Thuringia elected Kemmerich on February 5 last year in the third ballot with 45 out of 90 votes. There were 44 votes for incumbent Bodo Ramelow from the Left Party, none for the AfD candidate Christoph Kindervater and one abstention. Kemmerich resigned a few days later after nationwide criticism and ran the business without a government until March.

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