Debate on election of prime minister: CDU with new initiative

Elections - Debate on election of prime minister: CDU with new initiative

Just under a year before the next state elections, the debate about uncertainties in the election of the Minister President has flared up again. SPD leader and Interior Minister Georg Maier argued at the weekend for an amendment to the constitution in order to create legal certainty in the third round of voting. The opposition CDU parliamentary group tabled an amendment to the law for this week's state parliament session, which would allow a legal review of the passage by the Thuringian Constitutional Court in Weimar. This was first reported in the Funke Medien Thüringen newspapers (Tuesday).

The passage in the constitution, according to which the person who receives the most votes in the third round of voting is elected as Minister President if there is only one candidate - regardless of the number of no votes - has been a source of debate for years - most recently during the government crisis following the election of short-term Minister President Thomas Kemmerich (FDP) in 2020.

The CDU justified its initiative by stating that a two-thirds majority for a constitutional amendment in the state parliament was rather unlikely.

According to the initiative to amend the Thuringian Constitutional Court Act, the CDU's aim is to "clarify and create legal certainty as to which majority an individual candidate for the office of Minister President must achieve in the third ballot". Thuringia's highest judge should thus be able to be presented with "questions on the interpretation of the constitutional regulations on the election of the state parliament and the prime minister" by way of a preliminary clarification. To date, there have been conflicting legal opinions and expert reports on this issue.

Minister of the Interior Maier had suggested that Thuringia should orient itself towards regulations in other federal states such as Saxony when amending the constitution. In his opinion, this would also apply to a limit on the duration of government formation as well as a passage according to which the state parliament would be deemed dissolved if no prime minister was elected within a certain number of months, Maier had said. The head of the Left Party parliamentary group, Steffen Dittes, reacted skeptically to Maier's proposal on X (formerly Twitter).

CDU draft law

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1. Amidst the discussion about the upcoming state election, the debate on the uncertainty in the prime ministerial election has resurfaced once again, with SPD leader Georg Maier advocating for a constitutional amendment during the weekend.
2. In response to this, the CDU parliamentary group has tabled an initiative for a legal review of the third-round voting process in this week's state parliament session in Thuringia.
3. The CDU believes that securing a two-thirds majority for a constitutional amendment in the state parliament is unlikely, hence their proposed amendment to the Thuringian Constitutional Court Act.
4. With this amendment, the CDU aims to elucidate and establish legal certainty regarding the majority required for a candidate to become Minister President in the third ballot, deferring to Thuringia's highest judge for clarification on the constitutional regulations.
5. During this discussion, Georg Maier suggested adopting regulations from other federal states, such as Saxony, which include limiting the duration of government formation and dissolving the state parliament if a prime minister is not elected within a certain period.
6. The leader of the Left Party parliamentary group, Steffen Dittes, expressed his skepticism towards Maier's proposal, commenting on the issue via X (formerly Twitter).

Source: www.stern.de