Parties in the east German state of Thuringia agreed late on Friday to install a left-wing caretaker government, a deal that has drawn the ire of the conservative leadership in Berlin.
Last month’s election of a new state premier, in which Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) teamed up with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), set off a political earthquake that eventually prompted Merkel’s designated successor Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to announce her resignation as CDU leader.
Under the deal reached on Friday, the CDU will remain in opposition in Thuringia’s state parliament but support the reelection of former state premier Bodo Ramelow from the leftist Die Linke in a new vote scheduled for March 4.
The agreement will also restore the previous governing coalition of Die Linke, the Greens and the Social Democrats (SPD), which will run a minority government until a new state parliament is elected on April 25, 2021.
It’s a significant reversal for the CDU, which had refused to vote for Ramelow in the initial vote in February, instead supporting Thomas Kemmerich of the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) alongside the AfD.
The election, marking a stunning break with the CDU’s refusal to cooperate with the AfD, prompted a nationwide outcry. Kemmerich resigned just three days later.
While the accord stands to end the political stalemate and quiet the furor while sidelining the AfD, not everyone was pleased. Several senior CDU figures on Saturday denounced the deal, which contravenes the party’s longstanding principle of not cooperating with Die Linke.
Paul Ziemiak, the secretary-general of the federal CDU, said: “Whoever elects Mr. Ramelow, candidate of Die Linke, as state premier, goes against the decisions of the CDU.”
Health Minister Jens Spahn, one of the candidates running to succeed Kramp-Karrenbauer, also said that he “rejects” the CDU helping to elect Ramelow.
On the left, the reaction was largely positive. Katja Kipping, Die Linke’s federal co-chair, issued a statement praising the new deal as an important step.
“Today is a good day for democracy,” Kipping said. “The fact that two political opposites in the democratic spectrum, Die Linke and the CDU, were able to find a common solution, shows the enemies of democracy their limits.”