Thuringia's Prime Minister Mario Voigt gives up legal dispute over doctorate

Thuringia's Prime Minister Mario Voigt (CDU) accepts the withdrawal of his doctorate and wants to end the legal dispute over it. As head of government, his attention belongs to the citizens of the state, said Voigt in a press conference in the Thuringian state parliament. "And that's why I decided to stop the legal dispute over my dissertation," said the CDU politician.

The decision was not easy for him, says Voigt. His lawyers advised him to continue the proceedings. But he wanted to “concentrate on what lies ahead of us” without making any compromises, he said. Because such a legal dispute requires time, energy and attention.

Voigt has been under political pressure for months because of allegations of plagiarism regarding his dissertation. The Chemnitz University of Technology had withdrawn his doctorate and also rejected Voigt's objection to it. The 49-year-old then filed a lawsuit with the Chemnitz Administrative Court. He said he had taken these back in the morning.

The AfD in particular, with its state party and parliamentary group leader Björn Höcke, kept up the pressure on Voigt with several maneuvers in the state parliament. In mid-May, Höcke's AfD faction presented a report they had paid for from the self-proclaimed "plagiarism hunter" and Austrian communications scientist Stefan Weber, which was intended to prove further plagiarism in Voigt's doctoral thesis. The AfD parliamentary group has already requested two constructive votes of no confidence, both of which failed.

Voigt's announcement that he would end the legal dispute over his doctoral thesis came half an hour before a special session of the state parliament, at which a decision would be made on the dissolution of parliament at the request of the AfD parliamentary group. However, it is considered unlikely that the necessary two-thirds majority will be achieved.

Voigt was also criticized for the unlabeled use of artificial intelligence in his speeches and several guest contributions. After this became known in June, the “FAZ” took a guest article by Voigt off the internet.