‘Center’ right-extreme right coalition in Thuringia, Germany

This 28 September 2017 video says about itself:

German Holocaust survivor gives view on the rise of AfD | DW English

Nonagenarian holocaust survivor Horst Selbiger recalls his childhood in Nazi Germany. He sees the rise of the AfD as a continuation of the Nazi tradition.

Translated from Dutch NOS TV today:

For the first time, the AfD played a decisive role in the designation of the prime minister in a German state. Thanks in part to the right-wing … party, Thomas Kemmerich (54) of the [pro-Big Business] liberal FDP was surprisingly elected Prime Minister of the State of Thuringia.

The AFD in Thuringia, led by Björn Höcke, is even more openly neofascist than elsewhere in Germany.

He got elected with 45 votes in favour and 44 against, a narrow majority of parliamentarians.

The FDP received only 5 percent of the vote in the state elections, but now delivers the prime minister thanks to the support of the CDU and the AfD. Until now, other parties have refused to rely on support from the AfD.

Der Spiegel therefore speaks of a “political earthquake”, Die Welt of a “sensation in Thuringia”.

Since 2014, the state has, with Bodo Ramelow (63), a prime minister of the socialist party Die Linke. That party also became the largest in last year’s state elections and it was expected that the popular Ramelow would be re-elected. In 2014, he became the first German state prime minister of Die Linke, the successor to the East German Communist Party.

Taboo break

According to correspondent Judith van de Hulsbeek, the choice of Kemmerich is striking in several ways. “In the first place, the choice is seen as a taboo break, because the AfD has played a decisive role. That party is normally ignored by the other parties. But now the CDU has chosen not to support the candidate of Die Linke, but to vote for the candidate who is also supported by the AfD, thereby breaking the isolation policy and giving indirect power to the AfD, many critics say.”

According to Van de Hulsbeek, the question is how the coalition in Berlin responds to developments in Thuringia. “The CDU is in the national coalition together with the Social Democratic SPD. The SPD is certainly not happy that the CDU in Thuringia has chosen to take the AfD side.”

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) spoke firmly on Twitter about the events in Thuringia. “All democrats must act together against the AfD. Those who do not understand this have learned nothing from our history.”

Sich von Rechtsextremen zum Ministerpräsidenten wählen zu lassen, ist komplett verantwortungslos. Gegen die AfD müssen alle Demokraten geschlossen zusammenstehen. Wer das nicht versteht, hat aus unserer Geschichte nichts gelernt. #Thüringen

— Heiko Maas 🇪🇺 (@HeikoMaas) February 5, 2020

The AfD also had a candidate in Thuringia, but he got 0 votes in the third round of voting. All AfD people voted for Kemmerich. The CDU chose not to have a candidate. That way, it happened that the small FDP delivers the prime minister in Thuringia. …

Given the popularity of Die Linke in Thuringia, the choice for Kemmerich is striking. In the state elections last October, Die Linke became the largest party in a German state for the first time. The party is not that big in any other state.

If you play this clip backwards you get an idea of what the liberal FDP and christiandemocrat CDU just did in Thuringia #vonpapen #Thueringen https://t.co/cLv5NZPmMx

— Joshua Livestro (@JoshuaLivestro) February 5, 2020

PROTESTS were sparked in Germany’s eastern state of Thuringia today after the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) joined forces with two conservative parties in the state parliament to oust incumbent Die Linke president Bodo Ramelow: here.

Last week’s decision of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) in the federal state of Thuringia to collaborate with the extreme right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the selection of a governor exposes the filthy state of German politics. Seventy-five years after the collapse of the Third Reich, a party led by apologists for Hitler and out-and-out Nazis is accepted by the ruling elite as a legitimate political partner: here.