Bernhard Vogel is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was the 4th Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate from 1976 to 1988 and the 2nd Minister President of Thuringia from 1992 to 2003. He is the only person to have been head of two different German federal states and is the longest-governing Minister President of Germany. He served as the 28th and 40th President of the Bundesrat in 1976/77 and 1987/88.
Dieter Althaus is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as the 3rd Minister President of Thuringia from 2003 to 2009. In 2003/04 he was the 58th President of the Bundesrat.
The 2004 Thuringian state election was held on 13 June 2004 to elect the members of the 4th Landtag of Thuringia. The incumbent Christian Democratic Union (CDU) government led by Minister-President Dieter Althaus retained its majority and continued in office.
Bodo Ramelow is a German politician who has served since 4 March 2020 as Minister-President of Thuringia, an office he previously held from 2014 to 5 February 2020. He is the first head of a German state government to serve non-consecutive terms in office since Eberhard Diepgen, who served twice as Governing Mayor of Berlin. A member of The Left, he previously chaired the party's group in the Landtag of Thuringia. On 8 October 2021, he was elected to a one-year term as President of the Bundesrat. His term lasted from 1 November 2021 until 31 October 2022.
The Landtag of Thuringia is the parliament of the German federal state of Thuringia. It convenes in Erfurt and currently consists of 88 members from four parties. According to the free state's constitution, the primary functions of the Landtag are to pass laws, elect the Minister-President and control the government of Thuringia.
The 2009 Thuringian state election was held on 30 August 2009 to elect the members of the 5th Landtag of Thuringia. It was held on the same day as the 2009 Saarland state election and the 2009 Saxony state election. The incumbent Christian Democratic Union (CDU) government led by Minister-President Dieter Althaus was defeated. The CDU subsequently formed a grand coalition with the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Althaus resigned after the election due to his party's poor performance, which was far below expectations. He was succeeded by fellow CDU member Christine Lieberknecht, who was elected as the new Minister-President.
Christine Lieberknecht is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). From 2009 to 2014, she served as the Minister President of Thuringia. Lieberknecht was the first woman to become head of government in Thuringia and only the second woman to govern a German state.
Christian Carius is a German lobbyist and former politician.
The 2014 Thuringian state election was held on 14 September 2014 to elect the members of the 6th Landtag of Thuringia. The government prior to the election was a grand coalition of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Social Democratic Party (SPD) led by Minister-President Christine Lieberknecht. The government narrowly retained its majority. However, the SPD chose not to renew the coalition, instead pursuing an agreement to enter as a junior partner in a coalition with The Left and The Greens. After a vote of the SPD membership showed a majority in favour, the SPD went ahead with the agreement.
The first Ramelow cabinet was the state government of Thuringia between 2014 and 2020, sworn in on 5 December 2014 after Bodo Ramelow was elected as Minister-President by the members of the Landtag of Thuringia. It was the 7th Cabinet of Thuringia.
The 2019 Thuringian state election was held on 27 October 2019 to elect the members of the 7th Landtag of Thuringia. The outgoing government was a coalition consisting of The Left, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), and The Greens, led by Minister-President Bodo Ramelow.
Thomas Karl Leonard Kemmerich is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who served as the Minister-President of Thuringia from 5 February to 4 March 2020. With a tenure of only 28 days, he has been both the shortest-serving Minister-President of Thuringia and the shortest-serving head of a state government in the Federal Republic of Germany.
The 2024 Thuringian state election was held on 1 September 2024 to elect the members of the 8th Landtag of Thuringia. It was held on the same day as the 2024 Saxony state election.
The 2020 Thuringian government crisis, also known as the Thuringia crisis, was triggered by the election of Thomas Kemmerich (FDP) as Thuringian Minister President with votes from the AfD, CDU and FDP on February 5, 2020. The election attracted considerable national and international attention because, for the first time in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany, a Minister President was elected with votes from a far-right populist party, in this case the AfD.
The 1994 Thuringian state election was held on 16 October 1994 to elect the members of the 2nd Landtag of Thuringia. The incumbent coalition government of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) led by Minister-President Bernhard Vogel was defeated. The CDU suffered only minor losses, but the FDP lost its representation the Landtag. After the election, the CDU formed a grand coalition with the Social Democratic Party (SPD), and Vogel continued in office.
Susanne Hennig-Wellsow is a German politician. She was federal co-chairwoman of The Left from 2021 to 2022 and has served as a member of the Bundestag for Thuringia since 2021. Previously, she was a member of the Landtag of Thuringia from 2004 to 2021, leader of the Thuringia branch of The Left since November 2013, and leader of the state parliamentary group since December 2014.
Birgit Pommer is a German politician of The Left who has served as President of the Landtag of Thuringia from 2019 to 2024. She is the first member of her party to serve as speaker of any state parliament. Prior, she served as Minister for Infrastructure and Agriculture in the first Ramelow cabinet.
The second Ramelow cabinet is the current state government of Thuringia, sworn in on 4 March 2020 after Bodo Ramelow was elected as Minister-President by the members of the Landtag of Thuringia. It is the 10th Cabinet of Thuringia
Gerd Schuchardt is an electrical engineer who built his career and reputation in East Germany before 1990 in microprocessor technology and related forward-looking branches of science. He was interested in politics, but had avoided involvement in the country's ruling SED (party) or any of the various so-called "bloc parties" which it controlled. In January 1990, with the winds of political change - somewhat implausibly, as many still thought at the time - blowing across from the Kremlin in Moscow, the party leaders in East Berlin no longer felt able to stand against domestic pressures for a return to democratic politics after more than half a century of one-party dictatorship. Gerd Schuchardt became an activist member of the re-awakening Social Democratic Party. After reunification in October 1990 state-level democratic politics returned to Thuringia: Schuchardt became a leading figure in Thuringian state politics, selected by party members as the Social Democratic Party's lead candidate in the 1994 Thuringian state election. He led his party to what turned out to be its best electoral result in Thuringia to date. In the resulting "Grand coalition" government that ensued he served as vice-minister-president until 1999 under the leadership of Bernhard Vogel (CDU) and as Minister for the Sciences, Research and the Arts.
The Politics of Thuringia takes place within a framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic, where the Federal Government of Germany exercises sovereign rights with certain powers reserved to the states of Germany including Thuringia. The four main parties, following the 2024 elections, are the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), the centre-right Christian Democratic Union, the populist left Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), and the left-wing Left Party.
14.9%
