Thüringer Regierungschef: Fokus aufs Amt: Voigt beendet Rechtsstreit um Doktortitel

Thüringens Ministerpräsident Mario Voigt has announced his decision to accept the revocation of his doctorate and end the legal dispute surrounding it. Speaking at a press conference in the Thuringian Landtag, Voigt emphasized that his focus should now be on the needs of citizens. He stated that the decision was not an easy one, as his legal team had advised him to continue with the process.

Voigt expressed his desire to concentrate on what lies ahead without any compromises, noting that such disputes require time, energy, and attention.

The AfD party, led by its regional chair Björn Höcke, has been applying pressure on Voigt for months due to allegations of plagiarism in his dissertation. The Thuringian University of Applied Sciences had stripped him of his doctorate degree, and Voigt's appeal against the decision was also rejected. Consequently, Voigt filed a lawsuit in the administrative court of Chemnitz, which he withdrew on Wednesday morning.

Oppositional AfD representatives have been using various tactics in the Landtag to maintain the pressure on Voigt, such as submitting two constructive no-confidence motions, both of which failed. Voigt's announcement to end the legal dispute came just half an hour before a special session of the Landtag, where the AfD was seeking to decide on the dissolution of the parliament. However, it is considered unlikely that the required two-thirds majority would be achieved.