Second Ramelow cabinet

Second Cabinet of Bodo Ramelow Cabinet Ramelow II
10th Cabinet of Thuringia
2020–2024
The members of the second Ramelow cabinet at the Landtag of Thuringia plenary session on 14 March 2020 From left to right: Georg Maier, Dirk Adams, Heike Taubert, Wolfgang Tiefensee, Bodo Ramelow, Anja Siegesmund, Benjamin-Immanuel Hoff, Heike Werner, Helmut Holter
Date formed	4 March 2020
People and organisations
Minister-President	Bodo Ramelow
Deputy Minister-President	Wolfgang Tiefensee (until Aug 2021) Georg Maier (from Aug 2021) Anja Siegesmund
No. of ministers	8
Member parties	The Left Social Democratic Party Alliance 90/The Greens
Status in legislature	Minority coalition government 42 / 90
Opposition parties	Christian Democratic Union Alternative for Germany Free Democratic Party
History
Election	2019 Thuringian state election
Legislature term	7th Landtag of Thuringia
Predecessor	Kemmerich[a]
Successor	Voigt cabinet

The second Ramelow cabinet was the state government of Thuringia from 4 March 2020 to 12 December 2024 and was headed by Bodo Ramelow. It was the 10th Cabinet of Thuringia.

It was formed after the 2020 Thuringian government crisis which emerged from the 2019 Thuringian state election. The government was a coalition of The Left (LINKE), the Social Democratic Party (SPD), and Alliance 90/The Greens (GRÜNE). Excluding the Minister-President, the cabinet consisted of eight ministers. Four were members of The Left, three were members of the SPD, and two were members of the Greens.

The previous cabinet was a coalition government of the Left, SPD, and Greens led by Minister-President Bodo Ramelow of The Left.

The state election took place on 27 October 2019, and resulted in the incumbent coalition losing its majority to the conservative opposition of the AfD, CDU, and FDP. However, all parties had ruled out working with the AfD, and the CDU and FDP had ruled out working with The Left. The Landtag thus became deadlocked as it was not possible to reach a majority without cooperation between two of The Left, the CDU, and the AfD.

Despite this, The Left, SPD, and Greens agreed to renew their coalition as a minority government. The election process for the Minister-President enables a candidate to win with a plurality of votes in the third round if an absolute majority is not reached in the first two.

The Landtag convened for its first session on 5 February 2020. In the first two ballots for Minister-President, there were two candidates: Bodo Ramelow of The Left, and Christoph Kindervater, an independent proposed by the AfD. They fell short of the required majority in the first and second rounds. On the third ballot, the FDP also put forward their state leader Thomas Kemmerich. Kemmerich was elected Minister-President with 45 votes, corresponding to the support of most of the AfD, CDU, and FDP. Ramelow received 44 votes, corresponding to The Left, SPD, Greens, and two members of the opposition. Kindervater received no votes. One abstention was recorded.^[1]

Minister-President election
Ballot →		5 February 2020
Required majority →		46 out of 90 N	46 out of 90 N	Plurality Y
	Bodo Ramelow	43 / 90	44 / 90	44 / 90
	Christoph Kindervater	25 / 90	22 / 90	0 / 90
	Thomas Kemmerich	Did not run	Did not run	45 / 90
	Abstentions	22 / 90	24 / 90	1 / 90

Kemmerich's victory was highly unexpected. Neither the CDU nor AfD had indicated that they would support him. The participation of the AfD was perceived as a breach of the cordon sanitaire practised against them by all other parties. It was condemned across the German political spectrum and protests broke out across the country. In addition, Kemmerich insisted that the AfD would not be brought into government, leaving him without a workable majority in the Landtag. He announced his resignation on 8 February.^[2]

Following joint discussions, The Left, CDU, SPD, and Greens agreed on 21 February to invest Bodo Ramelow as Minister-President to lead a Left–SPD–Green minority government ahead of a planned early election in April 2021.^[3]

Bodo Ramelow was elected Minister-President by the Landtag on 4 March after three rounds of voting. The Left, SPD, and Greens supported Ramelow, while AfD put forward state chairman Björn Höcke and the CDU abstained. The FDP was not present for the vote. Höcke withdrew on the third ballot and Ramelow was elected with 43 votes in favour, 23 against, and 20 abstentions.^[4]

Minister-President election
Ballot →		4 March 2020
Required majority →		46 out of 90 N	46 out of 90 N	Plurality Y
	Bodo Ramelow	42 / 90	42 / 90	42 / 90
	Björn Höcke	22 / 90	22 / 90	Did not run
	Against	N/A		23 / 90
	Abstentions	26 / 90	26 / 90	20 / 90

Portfolio	Senator		Party		Took office	Left office	State secretaries
Minister-President		Bodo Ramelow born (1956-02-19) 19 February 1956 (age 68)		LINKE	4 March 2020	Incumbent
First Deputy Minister-President		Georg Maier born (1967-04-25) 25 April 1967 (age 57)		SPD	31 August 2021	Incumbent	Udo Götze (Interior) Katharina Schenk (Communities)
Minister for Interior and Communities					4 March 2020	Incumbent
Second Deputy Minister-President Minister for Environment, Energy, and Nature Protection		Anja Siegesmund born (1977-01-16) 16 January 1977 (age 47)		GRÜNE	4 March 2020	31 January 2023	Olaf Möller (until 30 April 2022) Burkhard Vogel (from 1 May 2022)
		Bernhard Stengele born (1963-04-23) 23 April 1963 (age 61)		GRÜNE	1 February 2023	Incumbent	Burkhard Vogel
Minister for Migration, Justice and Consumer Protection		Dirk Adams born (1968-05-25) 25 May 1968 (age 56)		GRÜNE	4 March 2020	9 January 2023	Sebastian von Ammon
		Anja Siegesmund (acting) born (1977-01-16) 16 January 1977 (age 47)		GRÜNE	9 January 2023	31 January 2023	Sebastian von Ammon
		Doreen Denstädt (age 45-46)		GRÜNE	1 February 2023	incumbent	Meike Herz
Minister for Culture, Federal and European Affairs and Chief of the State Chancellery		Benjamin-Immanuel Hoff born (1976-02-17) 17 February 1976 (age 48)		LINKE	4 March 2020	Incumbent	Malte Krückels (Media and Europe, Representative to the Federal Government) Tina Beer (Culture)
Minister for Infrastructure and Agriculture (acting)					4 March 2020	9 September 2021	Susanna Karawanskij Torsten Weil
Minister for Education, Youth and Sport		Helmut Holter born (1953-05-22) 22 May 1953 (age 71)		LINKE	4 March 2020	Incumbent	Winfried Speitkamp
Minister for Infrastructure and Agriculture		Susanna Karawanskij born (1980-05-07) 7 May 1980 (age 44)		LINKE	9 September 2021	Incumbent	Barbara Schönig Torsten Weil
Minister for Finance		Heike Taubert born (1958-11-14) 14 November 1958 (age 66)		SPD	4 March 2020	Incumbent	Hartmut Schubert
Minister for Economics, Science and Digital Society		Wolfgang Tiefensee born (1955-01-04) 4 January 1955 (age 69)		SPD	4 March 2020	Incumbent	Carsten Feller (Science, Higher Education and Economics) Katja Böhler (Research, Innovation and Economic Development)
First Deputy Minister-President					4 March 2020	31 August 2021	Carsten Feller (Science and Higher Education) Valentina Kerst (Economics and Digital Society)
Minister for Labour, Social Affairs, Health, Women and Family		Heike Werner born (1969-05-30) 30 May 1969 (age 55)		LINKE	4 March 2020	Incumbent	Ines Feierabend

• "The Thuringian Cabinet". State Government of Thuringia (in German). Retrieved 5 March 2022.