Germany: PM Kretschmer Re-Elected in Saxony
Saxon Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (R). 2024. X/ @SachsenDe
December 18, 2024 Hour: 8:40 am
He is the third prime minister elected following the regional elections held in September.
On Wednesday, the Prime Minister of Saxony, conservative Michael Kretschmer, was re-elected with the support of his party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
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He also secured votes from his coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), and from The Left, enabling him to defeat the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which came in second in the regional elections.
Kretschmer is set to lead a minority government with the SPD as his sole ally after failed negotiations to bring another party, the Alliance Sarah Wagenknecht (BSW), into the coalition, as well as a fallout with the Greens. The BSW is a newly formed party named after its founder, resulting from a split within The Left.
The CDU’s principle of excluding coalitions or cooperation with both the AfD and The Left makes Kretschmer’s election with support from The Left particularly notable.
Kretschmer was elected in a second round of voting after failing to secure an absolute majority in the first. While only a simple majority was required in the second round, he managed to achieve a result exceeding an absolute majority.
The AfD had nominated its regional leader, Jörg Urban, as a candidate, but he received just one vote. The majority of the AfD parliamentary group instead voted for the candidate from the Free Voters (FW), Mathias Berger.
Kretschmer secured 69 votes, Berger 39, Urban 1, with 11 abstentions. The covert support from the AfD for Berger’s candidacy echoes events in Thuringia five years ago, when far-right votes led to the election of the liberal Thomas Kemmerich, who was forced to resign just days later.
In the first round of voting, Kretschmer had received 55 votes—short of the 61 needed for an absolute majority—while Urban received 40 votes, Berger 6, with 12 abstentions and 7 invalid votes.
Kretschmer is the third prime minister elected following the regional elections held in September in eastern Germany, which produced results that complicated the formation of government majorities.
In Brandenburg—where the AfD was also the second most-voted party, as in Saxony—Social Democrat Dietmar Woidke was elected after forming a coalition with the BSW. In Thuringia—where the AfD was the most-voted party—Christian Democrat Mario Voigt was elected to lead a coalition with the SPD and BSW.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE
