A good three and a half months after the state elections, a new prime minister is to be elected in Saxony today. The current head of government Michael Kretschmer (CDU) wants to govern with a minority government of CDU and SPD, as he does not have a majority of his own. The AfD party and parliamentary group leader Jörg Urban and Matthias Berger (Free Voters), who is not a member of the parliamentary group, want to run against him in the election. How this will work and how the minority government will function:
How is the Prime Minister elected?
In a secret ballot. An absolute majority is required in the first round of voting - with 120 MPs, this corresponds to 61 votes. Kretschmer is not expected to achieve this majority, as the CDU and SPD are ten votes short. The CDU has 41 MPs, the AfD 30, the BSW is represented by 15 women and men and the SPD by ten. The Greens and the Left have seven and six seats respectively, while the Free Voters have one.
In the second and all subsequent ballots, a simple majority of the votes cast is sufficient. In this case, whoever receives more votes than the remaining candidates combined is elected. Abstentions do not count.
How does a minority government work?
In future, the CDU and SPD want to secure majorities in parliament with a consultation mechanism that involves other parliamentary groups in legislative proposals at an early stage. According to the coalition agreement, there should be an opportunity in the state parliament to articulate positions on the government's key projects. The different views in the state parliament are then to be incorporated into the legislative process.
In Germany, minority governments are a rarity, unlike in Scandinavia, Spain or Canada, for example. According to a study by the Bundestag's Scientific Service, they have generally been transitional solutions in Germany. Two SPD-led minority governments in Saxony-Anhalt (1994 to 2002) managed full legislative periods.
In Thuringia, Bodo Ramelow (Left Party) led a red-red-green minority government until last week. He was four votes short of an absolute majority. The governing parties concluded a "stability pact" with the CDU with selective cooperation on specific issues, which lasted for around a year.
Last Thursday, Mario Voigt (CDU) took over as head of government in Thuringia. His so-called Brombeer coalition of CDU, BSW and SPD has 44 of the 88 seats - which means a stalemate with the two opposition parties AfD and Linke. Although the Left Party is not planning to tolerate the government, it has agreed on a discussion format with the coalition parties in order to "achieve democratic majorities".
