With a new government partner
Hesse’s CDU Prime Minister Rhein re-elected
January 18, 2024, 4:35 p.m
The winner of the Hessian state election has also been confirmed as head of government. Boris Rhein receives 76 votes in the first session of the new state parliament in Wiesbaden, which is more support than expected. The 52-year-old CDU politician is now in a coalition with a new partner.
Rhein remains head of government in Hesse. The CDU politician received 76 votes in the election on Thursday in the first session of the new state parliament in Wiesbaden – and thus more than the combined number of mandates of the black and red government factions. The CDU had governed Hesse with the Greens for the past ten years. After the state elections in October, the Christian Democrats decided to form an alliance with the SPD. A total of 133 members sit in the new state parliament.
In a time of deep uncertainty and many crises, the trust of voters means an enormous responsibility, emphasized Rhein. “The danger that these multiple crises will become a crisis of democracy and politics as a whole is not small.” Many people have the feeling that democracy is no longer keeping its central promise of making politics for the majority, said Rhein.
Now it is up to the Democrats in the state parliament to regain trust and show how democracy works. “Let us fight hard and discuss the matter,” he said to the MPs. That is good for democracy. However, dealings in parliament should be fair and respectful.
In the new legislative period, 52 men and women sit in the state parliament for the CDU, 27 for the AfD, 23 for the SPD, 22 for the Greens and 8 for the FDP. The non-attached MP Sascha Herr obtained his mandate via the AfD list.
At the inaugural meeting, the President of the State Parliament and Union politician Astrid Wallmann had already been confirmed in her office. The 44-year-old received the votes of the CDU, SPD, Greens and FDP factions as well as the non-attached MP Herr. The AfD parliamentarians abstained. The CDU politician Wallmann has headed the state parliament presidium since 2022.
AfD candidate fails in three ballots
Christian Democrat Frank Lortz, Social Democrat Daniela Sommer, Green Party politician Angela Dorn and René Rock from the FDP were elected to the deputy positions in the state parliament presidium. The AfD candidate Anna Nguyen, however, failed in three rounds of voting. Nguyen only received the votes of her AfD faction and the non-attached Sascha Herr. The members of the CDU, SPD, FDP and Greens voted against Nguyen with a show of hands in all three rounds of voting.
Wallmann also invoked the value of liberal democracies in her first speech of the new legislative period. She pointed out that surveys show that trust in parties, politicians and the state has generally declined. “At the same time, participation in elections is falling or remaining at a low level,” she said and demanded: “Our democracy needs active democrats more than ever.” Wallmann called for historical-political education to be realigned in order to reach more people.
The President of the State Parliament appealed to the members of the State Parliament to treat each other with respect and a moderate tone – even if this was difficult given the differences in content. She announced that she would continue to take strict action against rule violations in the future.
The new black-red cabinet was sworn in in the afternoon. The new deputy head of government and economics minister is the SPD member of the Bundestag Kaweh Mansoori. The previous Minister of Education, Alexander Lorz, will take over the finance department, while the previous Minister of Justice, Roman Poseck, will move to the Interior Department. The new Minister of Education will be Armin Schwarz, a member of the CDU Bundestag.