The 2024 Thuringian state election was held on 1 September 2024 to elect the members of the 8th Landtag of Thuringia. It was held on the same day as the 2024 Saxony state election. The outgoing government was a minority government formed by The Left, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), and The Greens, led by Minister-President Bodo Ramelow of The Left. Ramelow had led the state since 2014, including through the political crisis following the 2020 state election.

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) under state-level leadership of Björn Höcke, both far-right, emerged as the largest party with 33% of the vote, marking its best ever result and the first time it placed first in a state election. The governing coalition suffered heavy losses: The Left, from which the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) had split off in late 2023, lost more than half of its support and fell to fourth place with 13% while the newly-formed BSW picked up these voters and debuted in third with 16%.

Even worse were the results for the three parties that governed Germany since 2021 in the Ampelkoalition of chancellor Olaf Scholz. They lost 3/4 of their combined support, dropped from 39% in Thuringia in the 2021 federal election to only 10%, and would break up the coalition a few weeks later: the SPD at 6% recorded its worst result in any postwar state election up to that time, while the Greens and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) both even failed to clear the Five-percent threshold and lost all of their seats. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) saw modest gains, placing second with 24%.

The election marked historic breakthroughs: one for the AfD, which became the first far-right party since the Nazi Party (NSDAP) to win a plurality in a German state election. The other first was a Blackberry coalition between CDU, SPD and the new BSW, without a majority due to having 44 of 88 seats. With some support from the Left, Mario Voigt was elected Ministerpräsident, and governs with the Voigt cabinet which, despite its three BSW members leaving the party in September 2026, is expected to continue.

Election date According to § 18 of the Thuringian Electoral Law for the Landtag, the Landtag election must take place on a Sunday or public holiday at the earliest 57 months after the beginning of the current parliamentary term on 5 February 2020 and at the latest 61 months after, i.e. at the earliest in August 2024 and at the latest December 2024.

According to the Thuringian Constitution, an early election may be held if, at the request of one-third of its members, the Landtag votes with a two-thirds majority to dissolve itself. This may also occur if the Landtag does not vote confidence in a Minister-President within three weeks of a failed vote of confidence in the incumbent. The motion to dissolve the Landtag may only be voted on between eleven and thirty days after its submission. If passed, the election must then take place within 70 days.

Proposed snap election cancelled

In the aftermath of the 2019/2020 Thuringian government crisis, still in February 2020, the CDU came to an agreement with The Left, SPD, and Greens to elect Ramelow as head of a red-red-green interim minority government for about a year, then dissolve the Landtag and schedule a snap election for 25 April 2021. At the time the four parties held a combined 63 of the 90 seats, two more than the 61 votes required for a dissolution.

By January 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the four parties agreed to postpone the election to 26 September 2021, the same date as the upcoming 2021 German federal election and elections in two other states.

The vote to dissolve the Landtag was scheduled for 19 July 2021. However, the motion was withdrawn on 16 July after four CDU and two Left members informed party leaders they would vote against it, leaving it clearly short of the required majority from within these parties that during these time faced losses in polls, both on state and federal level. Obviously a few ″undesired″ votes from other parties, especially the ones that rose in popularity, could have helped with dissolving the parliament. Left parliamentary leader Stefan Dittes announced there would not be another effort to dissolve the Landtag, and the ″temporary″ red-red-green minority government continued with support from CDU for another three years to complete the regular 5 year term.

Background Previous election

In the previous state election held on 27 October 2019, The Left became the largest party for the first time in any German state, winning 31.0% of votes cast. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) made the largest gains, increasing its vote share by almost 13 percentage points and became the second largest party with 23.4%. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which had previously been the largest party in the Landtag, lost almost 12 points and fell to third place with 21.7%. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) placed fourth on 8.2%. The Greens narrowly retained their position in the legislature, winning 5.2% of votes. The Free Democratic (FDP) entered the Landtag for the first time since 2009, exceeding the 5% electoral threshold by just 73 votes.

Incumbent Minister President Bodo Ramelow of The Left had led a coalition government of The Left, SPD, and Greens since 2014. The Left's gains were offset by losses for the SPD and Greens, and the coalition lost its majority.

Government crisis

The loss of a majority for the Ramelow's red-red-green coalition led to an unclear path to a new government. The state constitution provides that a Minister-President is elected with a plurality of votes if two rounds of balloting fails to produce a majority, allowing the coalition to potentially continue as a minority government. In the third round, the FDP leader Thomas Kemmerich stood as symbolic "civic alternative" to the two candidates from left and right, Ramelow and the rather unknown small village mayor nominated by AfD. Unexpectedly, AfD did not continue to support their own candidate in the third round, and Kemmerich was elected as Minister-President on this third ballot, with 45 votes to Ramelow's 44. Kemmerich was elected with the support of the FDP, CDU, and controversially, the AfD. This was the first time AfD votes had decided the election of a head of state government in Germany. The apparent cooperation of the three parties was viewed by some as breaking the cordon sanitaire around AfD which had been in place since its formation, in which all other parties sought to deny AfD government or political influence, refusing to negotiate or work with them on any level. This sparked major controversy nationwide, with many politicians expressing their outrage, including federal Chancellor and former CDU leader Angela Merkel, who described it as "unforgivable" and condemned her party's involvement. Kemmerich announced his resignation on 6 February, just a day after taking office. He remained in office in an interim capacity. In the re-ran vote a month later, Ramelow was re-elected Minister-President.

Parties and lists Party 2019 result candidates Listcandidates Lead candidate The Left (LINKE) 31.0% 44 50 Bodo Ramelow Alternative for Germany (AfD) 23.4% 42 44 Björn Höcke Christian Democratic Union (CDU) 21.7% 44 87 Mario Voigt Social Democratic Party (SPD) 8.2% 42 47 Georg Maier Alliance 90/The Greens (GRÜNE) 5.2% 20 19 Madeleine Henfling Free Democratic Party (FDP) 5.0% 33 39 Thomas Kemmerich Action Party for Animal Welfare (Tierschutz hier!) 1.1% – 3 Daniel Riedel Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP) 0.4% 3 13 Martin Truckenbrodt Pirate Party Germany (PIRATEN) 0.4% 1 9 Heidrun Jänchen Marxist–Leninist Party (MLPD) 0.3% 3 13 Tassilo Timm Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) – 6 32 Katja Wolf Free Voters (FW) – 22 15 Andreas Hummel Values Union (WU) – 4 28 Albert Weiler Alliance Germany (BD) – – 15 Steffi Brönner Family Party (FAMILIE) – – 13 Sven Seyfarth Other – 6 –

Campaign

Lead candidates On 15 June 2020, the SPD elected Georg Maier as state chairman and lead candidate for the planned 2021 election. This came after previous leader Wolfgang Tiefensee resigned his position.

In September 2020, former Federal Commissioner for the New States Christian Hirte was elected as state CDU chairman, succeeding Mike Mohring, who had resigned during the government crisis in February. On 17 November, the state executive nominated parliamentary group leader Mario Voigt as their preferred lead candidate.

After extended pressure from the federal FDP as well as other state branches, Thomas Kemmerich announced on 11 December that he was ineligible as his party's lead candidate in the planned 2021 election.

Opinion polls

Party polling