Germany Özdemir elected Minister President of Baden-Württemberg
Green politician Cem Özdemir is the new Minister President of Baden-Württemberg. The members of the state parliament - the parliament of the south-west German state - elected him head of government in Stuttgart.
13.05.2026, 12:27
SDA
Özdemir is thus the first head of government with Turkish roots in the history of Germany. He succeeds long-term Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann, who is leaving office after 15 years, and is only the second Green head of government of one of Germany's 16 federal states after him.
93 members of parliament voted yes, 26 voted no and there were 4 abstentions. The coalition of the Greens and the Christian Democratic CDU - known as green-black after the party colors - has a majority of 112 votes in parliament after the state elections in March.
Previously, the faction of the right-wing populist AfD had proposed the CDU leader for Baden-Württemberg, Manuel Hagel, who is to become deputy leader of the new government, as an opposing candidate for the office of Minister President. Hagel received 34 votes. There are 35 MPs in the AfD parliamentary group. The election was held by secret ballot.
No strongest parliamentary group in the new state parliament
Özdemir is leading a new edition of the green-black coalition in Baden-Württemberg. The Greens and CDU have already been governing together in the capital Stuttgart for ten years. In the state elections on March 8, the Greens were narrowly the strongest party with 30.2 percent, closely followed by the CDU with 29.7 percent. In the new state parliament, both parties have 56 seats each.
The Greens and CDU had agreed on a joint government program for the next five years after weeks of tough negotiations. Özdemir and Hagel signed the coalition agreement on Monday. The plans include a free and compulsory last year of kindergarten as well as measures to reduce bureaucracy. Baden-Württemberg's state parliament met in its new composition for the first time on Tuesday.
