Following the elections in Thuringia on Sept. 1, the AfD became the strongest group in the state parliament. It is now insisting on the preferential right to nominate the president of the state parliament. But the other parties want a non-AfD politician to get elected, and to bypass the standard procedure at the constituent meeting of the newly elected parliament.
The constituent session on Sept. 26 was to be opened by the senior president, that is the oldest parliament member), AfD MP Jürgen Treutler, who rejected the motions of the CDU and the Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) party to skip this procedure and vote on a non-AfD candidate right away.
Not getting through with their trick, as Treutler insisted on the AfD’s preferential right, the other parties turned the scene into a riotous one, and Treutler interrupted the session and announced it would continue on Saturday. The CDU then appealed to the state’s Constitutional Court, to rule that Treutler accept a changed procedure, though it’s unclear when they will do that.
