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Erfurt (dpa) - The Thuringian state election originally planned for April is postponed in view of the dramatically high number of infections.
Instead of April 25, the Thuringian parliament is now to be elected together with the Bundestag on September 26, the heads of the Left, SPD, Greens and CDU decided in Erfurt after several hours of negotiations.
Under the conditions of the pandemic, this is the earliest possible date to organize an election that is safe for citizens and parties, said the party and parliamentary group leader of the Left, Susanne Hennig-Wellsow.
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The state parliament in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and the Berlin House of Representatives will also be elected on September 26th.
Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) is currently ruling Thuringia with a red-red-green minority government that is dependent on votes from the opposition CDU.
The Stability Pact, which has existed since March 2020 and is intended to ensure the necessary majorities for important laws and decisions in the state parliament, will be extended according to the parliamentary groups.
According to the CDU parliamentary group leader Mario Voigt, details should be available by the end of January.
“We have proven to be a reliable partner,” says Voigt.
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An essential part of the agreement is the preparation of a state budget for 2022, according to the minutes of the talks between Red-Red-Green and the CDU.
For the left it is important “that there are no majorities with the AfD in the state parliament,” said Hennig-Wellsow.
SPD state chief Georg Maier described the postponement of the election as a command of common sense.
However, it was not easy for the SPD to postpone it until September.
The leader of the Greens, Astrid Rothe-Beinlich, said she was glad that an agreement could be reached between the four parties in view of the pandemic.
Several dates were discussed.
In order to be able to vote at the end of April, the state parliament in Erfurt would have had to dissolve in February with a two-thirds majority - and thus probably in the middle of a difficult phase of fighting pandemic, in which decisions about infection protection have to be made.
On Thursday, Thuringia had the highest seven-day value of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants nationwide with 310 - even ahead of Saxony.
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The new election date on September 26 also means that the preparations will largely fall during the summer holidays.
If the state parliament were dissolved, there would be 70 days before the election.
The left, the SPD, the Greens and the CDU have now agreed to look for further ways of re-election.
A constitutional amendment is currently under discussion to increase the deadline to 100 days.
A shortening of the current electoral term cannot be ruled out either.
After the government crisis last year, the four parties in Thuringia agreed to early elections in order to ensure clear majorities in the state parliament.
The model of cooperation between government factions and the opposition CDU ensured that Corona aid packages and the state budget could be decided in 2021.
Red-Red-Green are four votes missing in the state parliament.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210114-99-29699 / 5