Second Cabinet of Bodo Ramelow Cabinet Ramelow II | |
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10th Cabinet of Thuringia | |
2020–2024 | |
Date formed | 4 March 2020 |
People and organisations | |
Minister-President | Bodo Ramelow |
Deputy Minister-President | Wolfgang Tiefensee (until Aug 2021) Georg Maier (from Aug 2021) Anja Siegesmund |
No. of ministers | 8 |
Member parties | The Left Social Democratic Party Alliance 90/The Greens |
Status in legislature | Minority coalition government 42 / 90 |
Opposition parties | Christian Democratic Union Alternative for Germany Free Democratic Party |
History | |
Election | 2019 Thuringian state election |
Legislature term | 7th Landtag of Thuringia |
Predecessor | Kemmerich [a] |
Successor | Voigt cabinet |
The second Ramelow cabinet was the state government of Thuringia from 4 March 2020 to 12 December 2024 and was headed by Bodo Ramelow. It was the 10th Cabinet of Thuringia.
It was formed after the 2020 Thuringian government crisis which emerged from the 2019 Thuringian state election. The government was a coalition of The Left (LINKE), the Social Democratic Party (SPD), and Alliance 90/The Greens (GRÜNE). Excluding the Minister-President, the cabinet consisted of eight ministers. Four were members of The Left, three were members of the SPD, and two were members of the Greens.
The previous cabinet was a coalition government of the Left, SPD, and Greens led by Minister-President Bodo Ramelow of The Left.
The state election took place on 27 October 2019, and resulted in the incumbent coalition losing its majority to the conservative opposition of the AfD, CDU, and FDP. However, all parties had ruled out working with the AfD, and the CDU and FDP had ruled out working with The Left. The Landtag thus became deadlocked as it was not possible to reach a majority without cooperation between two of The Left, the CDU, and the AfD.
Despite this, The Left, SPD, and Greens agreed to renew their coalition as a minority government. The election process for the Minister-President enables a candidate to win with a plurality of votes in the third round if an absolute majority is not reached in the first two.
The Landtag convened for its first session on 5 February 2020. In the first two ballots for Minister-President, there were two candidates: Bodo Ramelow of The Left, and Christoph Kindervater, an independent proposed by the AfD. They fell short of the required majority in the first and second rounds. On the third ballot, the FDP also put forward their state leader Thomas Kemmerich. Kemmerich was elected Minister-President with 45 votes, corresponding to the support of most of the AfD, CDU, and FDP. Ramelow received 44 votes, corresponding to The Left, SPD, Greens, and two members of the opposition. Kindervater received no votes. One abstention was recorded. [1]
Minister-President election | ||||
Ballot → | 5 February 2020 | |||
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Required majority → | 46 out of 90 | 46 out of 90 | Plurality | |
Bodo Ramelow | 43 / 90 | 44 / 90 | 44 / 90 | |
Christoph Kindervater | 25 / 90 | 22 / 90 | 0 / 90 | |
Thomas Kemmerich | Did not run | Did not run | 45 / 90 | |
Abstentions | 22 / 90 | 24 / 90 | 1 / 90 |
Kemmerich's victory was highly unexpected. Neither the CDU nor AfD had indicated that they would support him. The participation of the AfD was perceived as a breach of the cordon sanitaire practised against them by all other parties. It was condemned across the German political spectrum and protests broke out across the country. In addition, Kemmerich insisted that the AfD would not be brought into government, leaving him without a workable majority in the Landtag. He announced his resignation on 8 February. [2]
Following joint discussions, The Left, CDU, SPD, and Greens agreed on 21 February to invest Bodo Ramelow as Minister-President to lead a Left–SPD–Green minority government ahead of a planned early election in April 2021. [3]
Bodo Ramelow was elected Minister-President by the Landtag on 4 March after three rounds of voting. The Left, SPD, and Greens supported Ramelow, while AfD put forward state chairman Björn Höcke and the CDU abstained. The FDP was not present for the vote. Höcke withdrew on the third ballot and Ramelow was elected with 43 votes in favour, 23 against, and 20 abstentions. [4]
Minister-President election | ||||
Ballot → | 4 March 2020 | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Required majority → | 46 out of 90 | 46 out of 90 | Plurality | |
Bodo Ramelow | 42 / 90 | 42 / 90 | 42 / 90 | |
Björn Höcke | 22 / 90 | 22 / 90 | Did not run | |
Against | N/A | 23 / 90 | ||
Abstentions | 26 / 90 | 26 / 90 | 20 / 90 |
Portfolio | Senator | Party | Took office | Left office | State secretaries | ||
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Minister-President | Bodo Ramelow born 19 February 1956 | LINKE | 4 March 2020 | Incumbent | |||
First Deputy Minister-President | Georg Maier born 25 April 1967 | SPD | 31 August 2021 | Incumbent |
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Minister for Interior and Communities | 4 March 2020 | Incumbent | |||||
Second Deputy Minister-President Minister for Environment, Energy, and Nature Protection | Anja Siegesmund born 16 January 1977 | GRÜNE | 4 March 2020 | 31 January 2023 |
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Bernhard Stengele born 23 April 1963 | GRÜNE | 1 February 2023 | Incumbent |
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Minister for Migration, Justice and Consumer Protection | Dirk Adams born 25 May 1968 | GRÜNE | 4 March 2020 | 9 January 2023 |
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Anja Siegesmund (acting) born 16 January 1977 | GRÜNE | 9 January 2023 | 31 January 2023 |
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Doreen Denstädt (age 45-46) | GRÜNE | 1 February 2023 | incumbent |
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Minister for Culture, Federal and European Affairs and Chief of the State Chancellery | Benjamin-Immanuel Hoff born 17 February 1976 | LINKE | 4 March 2020 | Incumbent |
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Minister for Infrastructure and Agriculture (acting) | 4 March 2020 | 9 September 2021 |
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Minister for Education, Youth and Sport | Helmut Holter born 22 May 1953 | LINKE | 4 March 2020 | Incumbent |
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Minister for Infrastructure and Agriculture | Susanna Karawanskij born 7 May 1980 | LINKE | 9 September 2021 | Incumbent |
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Minister for Finance | Heike Taubert born 14 November 1958 | SPD | 4 March 2020 | Incumbent |
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Minister for Economics, Science and Digital Society | Wolfgang Tiefensee born 4 January 1955 | SPD | 4 March 2020 | Incumbent |
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First Deputy Minister-President | 4 March 2020 | 31 August 2021 |
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Minister for Labour, Social Affairs, Health, Women and Family | Heike Werner born 30 May 1969 | LINKE | 4 March 2020 | Incumbent |
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Bodo Ramelow is a German politician who has served as Minister-President of Thuringia from 2014 to 5 February 2020 and from 4 March 2020 until 2024. He was 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 five 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 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.
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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.
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In Germany's federal electoral system, a single party or parliamentary group rarely wins an absolute majority of seats in the Bundestag, and thus coalition governments, rather than single-party governments, are the usually expected outcome of a German election. As German political parties are often associated with particular colors, coalitions are frequently given nicknames based on the colors included. Prominent political parties in Germany are the CDU/CSU (black), the SPD (red), the Greens (green), the Left, the AfD (blue), and the FDP (yellow).
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