Bavaria Deputy Premier Hubert Aiwanger was found dead in a Berlin hotel room

Hubert Aiwanger, the leader of the Free Voters (Freie Wähler) and Bavaria’s deputy premier and economy minister, was found dead at age 55 in his hotel room in Berlin. Prosecutors launched an investigation.

Bavaria’s Deputy Premier and Economy Minister Hubert Aiwanger was found dead in his room at the Hotel Neuer Fritz near Berlin’s Friedrichstraße station on Wednesday evening, November 4. Aiwanger, 55, had been the Free Voters’ (Freie Wähler) chairman in Bavaria since 2006 and its federal chairman since 2010.

The Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office announced that it had launched an investigation to determine the cause and circumstances of the death and to rule out possible third-party involvement. The prosecution said that Aiwanger’s condition when he was found could not be disclosed for the time being “for investigative reasons.” Tagesspiegel reported that Aiwanger had not attended a party event that afternoon due to health reasons and could not be reached afterward.

Free Voters Chairman Hubert Aiwanger in the Bavarian State Parliament in 2012 (archive)

Bavarian Premier Markus Söder (CSU) described what happened as “an absolute tragedy.” Ilse Aigner, president of the Bavarian State Parliament, said, “The news that Hubert Aiwanger was taken from us in the midst of life reached us with great shock. His completely unexpected death is a severe loss for the Bavarian State Parliament and Bavarian politics.” Baden-Württemberg Premier Cem Özdemir (Greens) remembered Aiwanger as a politician with blunt and sharp-edged sides, while AfD leader Alice Weidel called it “very sad news.”

State Secretary Tobias Gotthardt of the Free Voters will temporarily run the economy ministry. The party must elect new chairpersons at the state and federal levels, while it remains unclear whether the federal party congress planned for November 14 will take place.

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