CDU-AfD alliance in Thuringia: Merkel's party in turmoil

Text by: RFI Follow

German political life is going through a deep crisis since the election Wednesday at the head of the Thuringia region of a liberal elected official supported by the voices of the far right of the AfD party. The interested party announced on Thursday that he was withdrawing, but the consequences of the crisis persist. The governing bodies of the Christian Democrats and the Liberals met on Friday.

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With our special correspondent in Erfurt, Pascal Thibaut

Will this week's political earthquake influence the post-Merkel period and the elections in the fall of 2021? The winding course of the CDU in Thuringia, the tensions of the Christian Democratic Party over the positioning to adopt in the face of an increasingly strong extreme right in the east of the country, the weakness of President Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer: the movement curator pitch.

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Thursday evening in Thuringia, could not impose on his troops the decision of the party leadership in favor of new elections to clarify a sulphurous situation. Competitors to the one that was long presented as Angela Merkel's runner-up sharpen their knives.

► Also listen: Elections in Germany: “We see an inability of the CDU leadership to hold the party”

In a hot poll in Thuringia, the already much weakened CDU loses ten points. We will see if the popularity of the party at the national level will also deteriorate.

A meeting of the leaders of the grand coalition will be organized urgently this Saturday. The Social Democrats are alarmed. Even if the liberal elected Wednesday in Thuringia with the votes of the extreme right announced on Thursday his resignation , this major crisis will leave traces.

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• Germany
• Angela Merkel

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