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Bavaria | Free Voters leader Hubert Aiwanger is dead
He shaped the Free Voters like no other. At the same time, Hubert Aiwanger remained controversial beyond Bavaria. Now he died unexpectedly.
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Hubert Aiwanger is dead. Photo: dpa/Peter Kneffel Berlin. Bavaria's Economics Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters) died unexpectedly. He was discovered dead in a Berlin hotel room on Wednesday. In the afternoon he was supposed to give a speech at the opening of a capital office of the Free Voters, of which he is the federal and state chairman. However, for health reasons, he deregistered and was represented, party sources said. He was later no longer available before he was finally discovered lifeless in his room.
Aiwanger was 55 years old. The Lower Bavarian had two children and lived with the Free Voters district administrator Tanja Schweiger. With him, the Free Voters are losing their most distinctive and certainly most controversial head.
In 2008, Aiwanger entered the Bavarian state parliament for the first time with the Free Voters and became their parliamentary group leader. Ten years later, in 2018, the CSU and Free Voters forged a coalition. Aiwanger became economics minister and deputy prime minister.
In the summer of 2023, Aiwanger was at the center of the so-called leaflet affair. He was accused of writing an anti-Semitic leaflet in his youth, which Aiwanger denied. Nevertheless, after harsh criticism, he was advised to resign at the time. However, Söder stuck to his deputy. Ultimately, Aiwanger's brother declared that he was the author of the leaflet. However, many saw this as a protective claim to save Aiwanger's political career.
The Free Voters reacted with shock to the death of their boss. "Deeply shocked, with infinitely deep sadness and horror, we have to accept that our Hubert Aiwanger was taken from life far too early," said state parliamentary group leader Florian Streibl late on Wednesday evening in Munich. “Bavaria will be different without him.”
“The sudden death of Hubert Aiwanger is an absolute tragedy,” said Bavaria’s Prime Minister Söder on Platform X on Wednesday evening. “We are all deeply shocked. Our thoughts are now first with his family and his children.« dpa/nd
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