The affair caused an uproar in the country. For the first time, a German regional president, Thuringia, was elected on Wednesday (February 5th) thanks to the votes of the far right, bringing down a political taboo in the country's post-war history.
To read: Regional elections in eastern Germany: announced push from the far right
"A dark day in Thuringia"
Angela Merkel's conservative German party, the CDU, called Wednesday for new elections after local elected officials mixed their voices with those of the far right to designate the future head of regional government.
"The best for Thuringia would be new elections," said general secretary of the Christian Democratic Union Paul Ziemiak after the election.
He spoke of "a dark day for Thuringia", recalling that the Chancellor's party had the principle of excluding any alliance or cooperation with that of the extreme right, Alternative for Germany (AfD), both in national than regional level.
"It is all the more serious to see that CDU elected officials have assumed the fact that an election can be done with the Nazis," he said. He accused his party's local office in Thuringia of "breaking" national rules.
A historic vote since the post-war period
It is the first time in German post-war history that a head of regional government has been elected thanks to the votes of the extreme right and the first time also that the moderate and radical rights have voted together in this type of election.
This election came after months of fruitless local negotiations to try to form a majority coalition after a regional election in the fall.
The latter had been marked by the victory in extremis of the radical left but also a push from the AfD, with which no party officially wants to govern, making it impossible to build a majority.
With AFP and Reuters
The France 24 week summary invites you to come back to the news that marked the week
I subscribeDownload the app
google-play-badge_FR