GERMANY-POLITICS/LEFT-VOTE German state parliament vote to elect first Left party premier
Record ID:
328396
GERMANY-POLITICS/LEFT-VOTE German state parliament vote to elect first Left party premier
- Title: GERMANY-POLITICS/LEFT-VOTE German state parliament vote to elect first Left party premier
- Date: 5th December 2014
- Summary: ERFURT, GERMANY (DECEMBER 5, 2014) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** EXTERIOR THURINGIA REGIONAL PARLIAMENT BUILDING INTERIOR THURINGIA REGIONAL PARLIAMENT RAMELOW ENTERING PARLIAMENT, SURROUNDED BY JOURNALISTS PARLIAMENT THURINGIA REGIONAL PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT CHRISTIAN CAREUS SPEAKING LEFT PARTY CANDIDATE FOR STATE PREMIER, BODO RAMELOW, LISTENING PARLIAMENT MEMBERS VOTING IN FIRST ROUND OUTGOING STATE PREMIER CHRISTINE LIEBERKNECHT VOTING IN FIRST ROUND RAMELOW LEAVING HIS SEAT TO VOTE RAMELOW VOTING IN FIRST ROUND FIRST ROUND VOTES BEING COUNTED RAMELOW LISTENING AS IT IS ANNOUNCED THAT HE HAS NOT REACHED THE MAJORITY HE NEEDS TO BE ELECTED CAMERAMAN FILMING PARLIAMENT VARIOUS OF RAMELOW RE-ENTERING PARLIAMENT SURROUNDED BY JOURNALISTS PARLIAMENT MEMBERS VOTING IN SECOND ROUND RAMELOW VOTING IN SECOND ROUND SECOND ROUND VOTES BEING COUNTED RAMELOW LISTENING TO ANNOUNCEMENT THAT HE HAS ACHIEVED ENOUGH VOTES IN THE SECOND ROUND/APPLAUSE GALLERY RAMELOW BEING SWORN IN AND RECEIVING FLOWERS
- Embargoed: 20th December 2014 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Germany
- Country: Germany
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVAIFPNMKKQIL15PNVPO1BR990T
- Story Text: The reform communist Left party took power in a German state on Friday (December 5) for the first time since reunification, ending a quarter century of conservative rule in Thuringia and raising the chance of a left-wing threat to Angela Merkel in the next federal vote.
The Left party's Bodo Ramelow, a 58-year-old trade unionist from West Germany, was confirmed as Thuringia's state premier in a second round vote in the assembly in the state capital of Erfurt, after falling just shy of a majority in the first round.
The Left, which traces its roots to the Socialist Unity Party (SED) that once ruled East Germany and built the Berlin Wall, will run the state southwest of Berlin with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens in a three-way coalition.
Thuringia voted in September in state elections which produced a close result, leading to protracted negotiations involving four parties.
Eventually the three left-leaning parties agreed on a coalition, the first time they have ruled together in one of Germany's 16 states. If they succeed in Thuringia, they could decide to band together in the next national election in 2017 in an attempt to defeat the chancellor's conservatives.
In the past, the centre-left SPD, which rules with Merkel in a right-left federal "grand coalition", refused to cooperate with the Left at the national level.
Ramelow, who is often seen with his pet terrier Attila, is an unabashed backer of socialism and campaigned for September's election with a bright red bust of Karl Marx at his side.
But he told the deputies of his long struggle to convince a friend who was a political prisoner in East Germany that the Left party was not the SED. Of the SED's 2.3 million party members there are only about 16,000 in the Left.
The shadow of the Cold War has hung over the vote 25 years after communism in East Germany collapsed.
Merkel's conservatives had said a victory of the pro-Russia, anti-NATO Left party was an insult to the victims of communism.
An alliance between the SPD and Left represents the biggest threat to her winning a fourth term in 2017, if she runs again.
Merkel's conservatives have now lost control of six states since 2009 and run the government in just five of the 16. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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