Merkel's party in power in Thuringia despite last-minute glitch

Oct 30, 2009, 10:22 GMT

   Erfurt, Germany - A last-minute crisis nearly robbed Chancellor Angela Merkel's party of power in one of Germany's states on Friday - before legislators in Thuringia appointed a Merkel supporter as state premier.

Christine Lieberknecht of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won 55 out of 87 votes cast in a secret ballot in the state legislature in Erfurt. Though not the first woman state premier in Germany, Lieberknecht, 51, is the only female currently leading any of the 16 states.

She leads a coalition of the CDU with the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Those parties have 48 seats in the state legislature.

In Friday's crisis, some coalition legislators evidently failed to vote for her in the first two secret ballots for the premiership. In both she won only 44 votes. In the final ballot, it was evident that legislators from other parties must have helped put her in power.

'We've just seen. Things don't happen automatically. You have to be prepared for anything,' said Lieberknecht after her hour of uncertainty.

Television analysts said it was a weak start for Lieberknecht and implied a lingering risk of mutiny within her coalition.

She succeeds Dieter Althaus, the CDU premier who stepped down after vote losses in an August 30 state legislative election.

Althaus had undergone months of hospital treatment for severe head injuries in a January 1 skiing accident in Austria. He paid a fine for his role in the collision, which left a woman skier dead.

The choice helps shore up Merkel at national level, keeping Thuringia in the pro-government camp in the Bundesrat, the upper chamber of the federal parliament which represents the states. At federal level, Merkel rules with the Free Democrats (FDP) as partner.

Germany's Left Party had hoped to gain power in the state after winning 27 seats in the 88-seat, five-party legislature, but could not coax the SPD, with 18 seats, to join it in a coalition.

A minority within the SPD has openly voiced a preference for a left-of-centre front instead of linking up with the conservative CDU.

But when the state Left leader, Bodo Ramelow, put his name forward for the premiership in the third ballot on Friday, he won only 27 votes to the 55 cast for Lieberknecht.