Merkel
© Hannibal Hanschke/ReutersGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel
Alternative for Germany (AfD) party plans to sue Chancellor Angela Merkel herself over "abuse of office". The party claims she "coerced" a state PM into resigning after he was elected in a scandalous vote.

The anti-migrant and anti-establishment AFD wants to file two lawsuits against the Chancellor, arguing that her actions forced Thuringia's newly-elected Prime Minister to step down last week.

The chancellor was among those, who sharply criticized the outcome of the regional parliament's vote. Against recommendation from superior party members, MPs from her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) joined forces with the AfD - a move viewed as a taboo breaker — to support Thomas Kemmerich, from liberal Free Democrats (FDP).

Now, AfD claims that she "coerced" the regional prime minister into resigning. "Since Ms. Merkel no longer holds a relevant position within the CDU and was in Africa not as a CDU member but as the German government head, it is a clear case of abuse of power and violation of the right for equal opportunities for all parties," an AfD co-chair, Joerg Meuthen, said, referring to Merkel's trip to South Africa and Angola, during which she made her comments.

Bjoern Hoecke, the head of the AfD regional office in Thuringia, meanwhile plans to file his own lawsuit against Merkel over "coercion" as well. "The fact that the chancellor has forced an elected prime minister from another party to resign is unacceptable," he said in a Twitter post as he announced his plans.


Critics, however, allege the move is more likely a PR-stunt. Merkel called Kemmerich's election "unforgivable" and said that its results "must be reversed." Yet, whether it was her words that eventually forced Thuringia's prime minister to resign is a matter of a debate. Surprisingly unanimous vote by the CDU and AfD that brought him to power has sent shockwaves across Germany, and unleashed a massive scandal, sparking both a wave of indignation among the politicians and public protests in Thuringia and beyond.

The vote broke a longstanding unwritten taboo for major German parties on aligning with the right-wing AfD. The scandal also dealt another blow to Merkel's party, further straining its relations with their coalition partners — the Social Democrats — and eventually leading to the resignation of the current party leader — and Merkel's would-be successor — Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.


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Kramp-Karrenbauer, best known by her initials "AKK", said she was standing down as CDU leader and would not seek to become the centre-right party's new chancellor in a general election slated for next year. She said her stint as party leader had been "a difficult time" as mainstream parties grapple to respond to the rise of the far right. It's a swift fall from grace for AKK, whose spell in the spotlight was marred by high-profile blunders and weak showings by the CDU in regional polls.

A political fiasco in the small state of Thuringia last week cast further doubt on her leadership skills and proved the final blow. Not only did AKK fail to persuade rebellious CDU lawmakers there against siding with the far-right AfD in a key vote, she couldn't get them to back snap polls afterwards in the face of nationwide outrage.

Merkel had to weigh in from South Africa to condemn the vote as "unforgivable" -- breaking an unwritten rule not to comment on domestic rows from abroad.



The CDU's popularity in Thuringia plummeted dramatically. The party's public support fell to just 13 percent, down from more than 21 percent it had during the last regional elections in October 2019, according to a Sunday poll commissioned by the German MDR broadcaster. AfD's popularity in the region stayed relatively unchanged while the Left Party, that already had the strongest mandate in the regional legislature, saw an eight-percent surge in public backing, and now enjoys support of almost 40 percent of the voters.