Thuringian Lawmakers Dissolve BSW Group and Form Thüringen.Gerecht to Back Voigt Coalition

Dissolution of the BSW parliamentary group

On 9 September 2026, the Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht parliamentary group in the Thuringian Landtag in Erfurt officially dissolved following several hours of faction discussions. Former BSW group leader Sigrid Hupach announced the unanimous decision to dissolve the caucus, clearing the path for lawmakers without BSW party affiliation to regroup. The dissolution follows a series of resignations that dismantled the governing faction in Erfurt. Ten former BSW lawmakers immediately established a successor group under the name Thüringen.Gerecht, choosing orange and blue as their official colors. Hupach was elected to chair the new formation, keeping the same parliamentary leadership that previously guided the BSW group.

New group formation and parliamentary numbers

The newly established Thüringen.Gerecht group will continue supporting the minority administration of Christian Democratic Union Minister-President Mario Voigt alongside the Social Democratic Party. The three coalition partners signed an addendum to the governing agreement that has bound them together since late 2024, with Voigt characterizing the resolution as a cleansing thunderstorm. Following the factional split of the original 15 BSW deputies, the governing coalition now controls 39 of the 88 seats in the Erfurt Landtag. Under German law, lawmakers retain their parliamentary status through their free mandate regardless of party resignation. The minority government faces immediate tests during three consecutive parliamentary sitting days scheduled before the end of the week, leaving it increasingly dependent on votes from Die Linke to secure majorities.

The coalition agreement continues to apply.

Ideological divide with federal leadership

The split developed over months of ideological friction between Thuringian state representatives and BSW founder Sahra Wagenknecht regarding cabinet governance and relations with Alternative für Deutschland. Federal BSW leadership had demanded that Thuringian members exit the state coalition following controversy surrounding Voigt's academic plagiarism affair. Friction intensified further after the Landtag election in neighboring Saxony-Anhalt, where AfD candidate Ulrich Siegmund secured an electoral victory and local BSW figures suggested abstaining to permit an AfD minister-president. Thuringian politician Steffen Schütz described the federal leadership around Wagenknecht as behaving like a guardian council that crossed critical boundaries.

It is not us who have moved away from the party, but the party has moved away from us.

Party formation and faction liquidation

To create the formal foundation for the new group, Deputy Minister-President and Finance Minister Katja Wolf founded the party Thüringen.Gerecht in Erfurt on 6 September 2026, with members electing her party chair. On 7 September 2026, Wolf outlined the party's platform, centering on social justice, pension fairness, and East German lifetime achievement without ideological shifts toward the right. Nine of the ten members in the new parliamentary group joined the party, while one deputy remains non-partisan. Of the remaining five original BSW deputies, three intend to operate in a separate independent group, while two remain non-attached lawmakers loyal to Wagenknecht's direction. Group administrators are now liquidating the original BSW parliamentary apparatus, managing its finances and addressing the employment status of 22 parliamentary staff members.

There will definitely be a clearly different blue, there is no connection whatsoever to the AfD, that is important to us.