The first Ramelow cabinet was the state government of Thuringia between 2014 and 2020, sworn in on 5 December 2014 after Bodo Ramelow was elected as Minister-President by the members of the Landtag of Thuringia. It was the 7th Cabinet of Thuringia.

First Cabinet of Bodo Ramelow
Cabinet Ramelow I

8th Cabinet of Thuringia
2014–2020
Bodo Ramelow in June 2016
Date formed5 December 2014
Date dissolved5 February 2020
People and organisations
Minister-PresidentBodo Ramelow
Deputy Minister-PresidentHeike Taubert
Anja Siegesmund
No. of ministers9
Member partiesThe Left
Social Democratic Party
Alliance 90/The Greens
Status in legislatureCoalition government
46 / 91
Opposition partiesChristian Democratic Union
Alternative for Germany
History
Election(s)2014 Thuringian state election
Legislature term(s)6th Landtag of Thuringia
PredecessorLieberknecht cabinet
SuccessorThomas Kemmerich[a]
Second Ramelow cabinet

It was formed after the 2014 Thuringian state election by The Left (LINKE), the Social Democratic Party (SPD), and Alliance 90/The Greens (GRÜNE). Excluding the Minister-President, the cabinet comprised nine ministers. Four were members of The Left, three were members of the SPD, and two were members of the Greens.

The first Ramelow cabinet left office on 5 February 2020 after Thomas Kemmerich was elected Minister-President.

Formation edit

The previous cabinet was a coalition government CDU and SPD led by Minister-President Christine Lieberknecht.

The state election took place on 14 September, and resulted in small gains for the CDU and a substantial decline for the SPD. The Left and Greens remained steady on 28% and 6% respectively, while the AfD debuted at 11%. Overall, the incumbent coalition retained a slim majority of one seat.

The SPD's losses prompted the party to consider changing course and defecting from the outgoing government. A left-wing coalition of The Left, SPD, and Greens also held a one-seat majority.[1] After holding exploratory talks with the other parties, they SPD carried out a postal ballot of their membership to gauge support for a coalition with The Left and Greens. The results were announced on 4 November, with 69.9% voting in favour. Turnout among the party's 4,300 members was 77.5%.[2] The three parties thus entered into negotiations. They presented their coalition agreement on 19 November.[3]

Bodo Ramelow was elected Minister-President by the Landtag on 6 December after two rounds of voting. In the first ballot, he received 45 votes in favour to 44 against, one short of the required majority. In the second ballot, he was elected with 46 votes in favour to 43 against. In both rounds, there was one abstention and one invalid vote.[4]

Minister-President election
Ballot → 4 March 2020
Required majority → 46 out of 91  N 46 out of 91 Y
Bodo Ramelow
45 / 91
46 / 91
Against
44 / 91
43 / 91
Abstentions
1 / 91
1 / 91

Composition edit

The composition of the cabinet at the time of its dissolution was as follows:

Portfolio Senator Party Took office Left office State secretaries
Minister-President   Bodo Ramelow
born (1956-02-19)19 February 1956
LINKE 5 December 2014 5 February 2020
First Deputy Minister-President
Minister for Finance
  Heike Taubert
born (1958-11-14)14 November 1958
SPD 5 December 2014 5 February 2020
  • Hartmut Schubert
Second Deputy Minister-President
Minister for Environment, Energy, and Nature Protection
  Anja Siegesmund
born (1977-01-16)16 January 1977
GRÜNE 5 December 2014 5 February 2020
  • Olaf Möller
Minister for Culture, Federal and European Affairs and Chief of the State Chancellery   Benjamin-Immanuel Hoff
born (1976-02-17)17 February 1976
LINKE 5 December 2014 5 February 2020
  • Malte Krückels (Media, Representative to the Federal Government)
  • Babette Winter (Culture and Europe)
Minister for Infrastructure and Agriculture (acting) 26 November 2019 5 February 2020
  • Klaus Sühl
Minister for Interior and Communities   Holger Poppenhäger
born (1957-04-03)3 April 1957
SPD 5 December 2014 30 August 2017
  • Udo Götze
  Georg Maier
born (1967-04-25)25 April 1967
SPD 30 August 2017 5 February 2020
  • Udo Götze
  • Uwe Höhn
Minister for Education, Youth and Sport   Birgit Klaubert
born (1954-09-28)28 September 1954
LINKE 5 December 2014 17 August 2017
  • Gabi Ohler
  Helmut Holter
born (1953-05-22)22 May 1953
LINKE 17 August 2017 5 February 2020
  • Gabi Ohler
Minister for Migration, Justice and Consumer Protection   Dieter Lauinger
born (1962-12-05)5 December 1962
GRÜNE 5 December 2014 5 February 2020
  • Sebastian von Ammon
Minister for Economics, Science and Digital Society   Wolfgang Tiefensee
born (1955-01-04)4 January 1955
SPD 5 December 2014 5 February 2020
  • Markus Hoppe (Science)
  • Valentina Kerst (Economic Policy, Economic Development, Tourism and Digital Society)
Minister for Labour, Social Affairs, Health, Women and Family   Heike Werner
born (1969-05-30)30 May 1969
LINKE 5 December 2014 5 February 2020
  • Ines Feierabend
Minister for Infrastructure and Agriculture   Birgit Keller
born (1959-01-28) 28 January 1959 (age 65)
LINKE 5 December 2014 26 November 2019
  • Klaus Sühl

References edit

  1. ^ "The CDU considers an Afghanistan coalition". Der Spiegel (in German). 15 September 2014.
  2. ^ "SPD base in Thuringia votes for red-red-green". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). 4 November 2014.
  3. ^ "Left, SPD and Greens agree on coalition pact". Die Zeit (in German). 19 November 2014.
  4. ^ "Germany gets first socialist state governor since reunification". The Guardian. 6 December 2014.

Notes edit

  1. ^ Thomas Kemmerich did not form a cabinet during his tenure as Minister-President.

External links edit