(Bloomberg) — A German regional premier elected with the help of a far-right party stepped down under pressure from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government, which was plunged into a growing crisis by the fallout.
Thomas Kemmerich, prime minister of the eastern German state of Thuringia, said on Twitter on Saturday that he was resigning with immediate effect. His election had triggered a political firestorm because he was backed by the nationalist Alternative for Germany as well as Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union.
His presence prompted an emergency meeting of Merkel’s CDU-led bloc with the Social Democrats, her coalition partner, whose two leaders threatened in a newspaper interview on Saturday to bring down the government if Kemmerich remained in office.
The premier’s exit coincided with a statement by the governing parties in Berlin calling his election “unforgivable” — an echo of language used by Merkel earlier in the week — and calling for his swift resignation and replacement.
Earlier Saturday, Merkel in an unusual step fired a government official from her party who had congratulated Kemmerich for his election. The official, Christian Hirte, is the federal government’s top liaison for the eastern German states and the CDU’s deputy leader in Thuringia.
The governing parties also called for an early election in Thuringia. This month’s turmoil is rooted in the region’s last vote in October, when Alternative for Germany more than doubled its support to 23.4 percent and pulled ahead of a slumping CDU.
–With assistance from Patrick Donahue and Alexander Kell.
To contact the reporter on this story: Arne Delfs in Berlin at [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at [email protected], Tony Czuczka
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