Consequence of the election debacle: CDU leadership in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania throws in the towel

After Sunday's election debacle, the CDU leadership in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is not only busy winding up the state parliamentary group. It has now also dealt with itself: the state chairman and top candidate Daniel Peters has resigned, as has the general secretary of the state CDU, Katy Hoffmeister, who was formally responsible for the failed election campaign.

As was confirmed on Tuesday, the evening before, the state executive board in Schwerin decided “by a large majority” that Philipp Amthor would become Peters’ successor “until a state party conference.” The 33-year-old from Western Pomerania has already had a number of scandals despite his age. He was recently promoted to Minister of State for Federal-State Cooperation in the Chancellery. In the state CDU he was previously one of Peters' deputies.

Peters himself explained that he had “received a lot of encouragement from the ranks of the state executive board and also a request” to remain in office. Thank you for the flowers, but without me, the ex-boss continued. For him, it is part of “responsible politics” to draw personal conclusions from the “crass and disastrous election results”.

From the CDU perspective, a very nice description of the election results in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is disastrous. The party that shaped the state for many years fell from just over 13 to 4.9 percent compared to the last state election in 2021. It was the first time in its history that it missed entry into a state parliament.

The new CDU state chief commissioner Philipp Amthor immediately tried to act as an optimism representative. After this “most difficult historical hour,” the regional association needed “the necessary time to process the result and to reposition itself in an orderly process,” said Amthor.

Nevertheless, he wanted to make it clear: “The CDU in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is not dead, but is needed.” Especially since the approximately 4,000 members of the Northeast CDU retained “the firm will” to “shape our homeland politically for the better”.

In addition to the “firm will”, the regional association is still very worried that the party could come under the wheels as an extra-parliamentary opposition. “If the representatives disappear, if the constituency offices disappear, if the employees disappear, it will be difficult to establish a presence in the area,” said Schwerin’s CDU district leader Jasch Dopp to taz after the election.

The execution of their immediate resignation was the first extensive statement by Daniel Peters and his general secretary Katy Hoffmeister since the evening of the election. Previously, both had completely disappeared. Peters skipped a joint press conference with the CDU federal leader and Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin, Hoffmeister skipped the state press conference in Schwerin.

Peters said afterwards that this should not be seen as an affront to the federal party committees. "Not an affront to Friedrich Merz either. Quite the opposite: I coordinated that with him." For him, it was more important to talk to the employees of the state parliamentary group, who now needed a new professional perspective.

The promised reorganization of the state CDU should now be discussed “in peace”. “We are aiming for a state party conference, not immediately in the next few weeks, but rather towards the beginning of next year,” said Commissioner Philipp Amthor. Until then, he claimed, the state party would be “fully capable of acting”.