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.
Formation
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.
Minister-President election Ballot → 5 February 2020 Required majority → 46 out of 90 46 out of 90 Plurality Bodo Ramelow Christoph Kindervater Thomas Kemmerich Did not run Did not run Abstentions
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.
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.
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.
Minister-President election Ballot → 4 March 2020 Required majority → 46 out of 90 46 out of 90 Plurality Bodo Ramelow Björn Höcke Did not run Against N/A Abstentions
Composition Portfolio Senator Party Took office Left office State secretaries Minister-President Bodo Ramelow LINKE 4 March 2020 12 December 2024 First Deputy Minister-President Georg Maier SPD 31 August 2021 12 December 2024 Minister for Interior and Communities 4 March 2020 12 December 2024 Second Deputy Minister-PresidentMinister for Environment, Energy, and Nature Protection Anja Siegesmund GRÜNE 4 March 2020 31 January 2023 Bernhard Stengele GRÜNE 1 February 2023 12 December 2024 Minister for Migration, Justice and Consumer Protection Dirk Adams GRÜNE 4 March 2020 9 January 2023 Anja Siegesmund(acting) GRÜNE 9 January 2023 31 January 2023 Doreen Denstädt() GRÜNE 1 February 2023 12 December 2024 Minister for Culture, Federal and European Affairs and Chief of the State Chancellery Benjamin-Immanuel Hoff LINKE 4 March 2020 12 December 2024 Minister for Infrastructure and Agriculture (acting) 4 March 2020 9 September 2021 Minister for Education, Youth and Sport Helmut Holter LINKE 4 March 2020 12 December 2024 Minister for Infrastructure and Agriculture Susanna Karawanskij LINKE 9 September 2021 12 December 2024 Minister for Finance Heike Taubert SPD 4 March 2020 12 December 2024 Minister for Economics, Science and Digital Society Wolfgang Tiefensee SPD 4 March 2020 12 December 2024 First Deputy Minister-President 4 March 2020 31 August 2021 Minister for Labour, Social Affairs, Health, Women and Family Heike Werner LINKE 4 March 2020 12 December 2024
References
Notes
External links