The Thuringian state parliament elected the CDU's König as its president

A dispute broke out over the internal rules on Thursday, which is why the elections had to be rescheduled.

The new Thuringian state parliament has elected politician Thaddeus König of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) as speaker of parliament after a scandal involving senior leader Jürgen Trütler of the AfD. He was elected on Saturday in a secret ballot with 54 votes. The strongest faction of the AfD was Wepke Mohsal, which lost by 32 votes. The elections initially failed at the founding meeting on Thursday due to disagreement over the internal system and the role of the first president.

Hours earlier, Treutler had refused to put a proposal from other parties regarding the internal regulations to a vote. Then Christian Democratic Union MP Andreas Bohl accused him of violating the constitution several times.

The election was seen as a test of how well the right-wing populist party could exploit its new strength in parliaments after state elections in the German states of Brandenburg, Thuringia and Saxony – and whether other parties stuck to their statements about not wanting to work with the AfD. The party has been classified as far-right in Thuringia by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

The CDU politician König must also have been elected with left-wing votes. The AfD has 32 seats in the new state parliament in Erfurt, followed by the CDU with 23 seats, the BSW with 15 seats, the Left with 12 seats, and the Social Democratic Party with six seats.

The Constitutional Court approves the CDU, the BSW, the Left and the Social Democratic Party

Treutler, the AfD politician, as senior chairman, insisted on Thursday that the election of a new speaker of the state parliament should have taken place according to the old rules of procedure – after which the AfD, as the stronger faction, would have the right to fill this Position. All other parties – CDU, BSW, Left and SPD – were first in favor of adopting new procedural rules, under which all parties would be allowed to submit proposals and the president of the state parliament would be elected “from the center of parliament”. The meeting was suspended until Saturday because the CDU requested an urgent decision from the Constitutional Court in Thuringia. This proved that the CDU, SWP, Left and SPD parties were right. After the sometimes turbulent meeting on Thursday, Treutler, the AfD politician, carried out all the requirements of the Constitutional Court on Saturday.

The next formation of the government in Erfurt is not only difficult because of the strength of the AfD: the CDU also rules out forming a coalition with the left. An alliance including the CDU, the Socialist Workers' Party and the Social Democratic Party will only get half of the 88 seats in parliament. (Abba (Daba))