Chancellor Angela Merkel managed to save her fragile governing coalition in Germany, which was reeling from a scandal caused by an electoral alliance between members of her conservative party and others from the far right.
The chancellor began purging her party by sacking a member of the government and then imposing an immediate resignation on the president of the Thuringia (Central) district, which witnessed the political earthquake this week, while calling for new regional elections.
These decisions were announced during a meeting in Berlin that included senior officials of the government, which includes conservatives and Social Democrats, at the request of those who requested clarification of the position on the far right to continue in the ruling coalition.
The chancellor began her reaction by firing firmly from her government, government member and party Christian Herti.
On Wednesday, Herti expressed his satisfaction with the election of an official in Thuringia province this week, thanks to Merkel's Christian Democratic Union voices coalition and the far-right National Alternative Party for Germany.
The sudden alliance in the province violated the instructions of the National Leadership of Merkel's party, as well as a break of one of the main political taboos in post-World War II Germany is the refusal of all cooperation with the extreme right, including the Alternative Party of Germany.
"The chancellor proposed today to the federal president the dismissal of Minister of State Christian Herti," Merkel's spokesman, Stefan Schaibert, announced in a brief statement.
Herti was Minister of State in the Ministry of Economy and Energy and Commissioner of the Government in the provinces of the east of the country and charged with coordinating federal policy to support those areas that are still experiencing economic delay compared to the west of the country.
The Social Democratic Party demanded Merkel's partner in the central government, the dismissal of Herti, saying that "it can not continue to defend him."
According to German media, the Christian Social Union also demanded the immediate departure of the elected president of the province of Thuringia, and this was required to remain in the government.
This is what happened on Saturday afternoon, when Thomas Kimerich (the FDP) liberal party, under pressure, announced his resignation "with immediate effect."
Because of the controversy that had occurred, he had previously announced that he would leave his post, but without specifying a date.
And the most prominent officials of the ruling coalition in Germany after the meeting on Saturday expressed the unity of their position and demanded the organization of new elections "quickly" in Thuringia and firmly rejected the alliance with the Alternative Party for Germany (extreme right).
"We reject the formation of governments or political majorities with the votes of the Alternative Party for Germany, and this remains the position of the constituent parties of the coalition at all levels," federally, regionally and locally, said in a joint statement of the Christian Democratic Union (Merkel party) and the Christian Socialist Union and the liberal party.
And Minister Herti, who resigned on Saturday, is the second victim of this case in two days within Merkel's party. Friday, MVM leader in the Thuringian Parliament, Mike Moring, announced that he will resign from his duties in May.
Moring's decision came under pressure from the party's national leadership. He supervised the coordination of the votes of party representatives in Wednesday's elections to choose a new president for the state of Thuringia.
The case in Germany commemorated the 1930s and the Nazi party's coming to power, especially thanks to alliances with the traditional right.
Adolf Hitler's movement to its gradual rise to power came from Thuringia itself.