Reorganization of the FDP
FDP chooses new party leadership after election debacle
Departure Christian Lindner, appearance Christian Dürr: Almost three months after the lost Bundestag election, the FDP will change the management. The new party leader has no easy task in front of it.
After its debacle in the Bundestag election, the FDP is repositioning itself at a party congress in Berlin. The previous chairman Christian Lindner will hand over the office this Friday after a good 13 years. His successor wants to become the former parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr. The 48-year-old Lower Saxony proposes the entrepreneur Nicole Büttner as the new general secretary. She has been a member of the FDP for 20 years and has not yet been in the federal political spotlight.
FDP experienced debacle in the Bundestag election
In the Bundestag election on February 23, the FDP had only brought 4.3 percent of the second votes and has not been represented in the Bundestag since then. This was already the case from 2013 to 2017. In 2017, Lindner led the party back to the Bundestag and then to the federal government in 2021. The FDP contributed significantly to break up the traffic light coalition with the SPD and the Greens.
Kubicki wants to stay vice chairman
There are three applications for the three posts of deputy party leaders. So there will not be a combat vote. The previous Vice Wolfgang Kubicki faces around 600 delegates for re -election. The North Rhine-Westphalian FDP boss Henning Hönen and MEP Svenja Hahn are running for the other two vice posts. He stands for the continuity that Dürr wanted, Kubicki told the German Press Agency. There is also a lack of FDP politicians who are perceived.
The new party leader is faced with a difficult task
The most important task of the new chairman will be to bring the liberals back to the Bundestag in four years. However, this should not be easy. A party not represented in parliament automatically receives less media attention. However, this does not yet apply to the upcoming party congress. According to FDP, a good 150 journalists have registered-more than in the party congress before the Bundestag election.
Another problem: The FDP has not only lost the Bundestag election, but also tens of state elections before. It hardly exists, especially in East Germany. In the state elections last year, the liberals in Brandenburg won 0.8 percent of the votes, in Saxony it was 0.9 percent and 1.1 percent in Thuringia. At 2.3 percent, the citizens’ election in Hamburg this year was only slightly better.
The FDP is currently still represented in eight state parliaments-in Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony-Anhalt, Hesse, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
First probation test for 2026 state elections
An important mood test will be the state election in Baden-Württemberg for the FDP and its new top in March next year. Baden-Württemberg is considered the main country of liberals-a failure there would be a sensitive setback for the desired return to the Bundestag.
A success only two weeks later in the state election in Rhineland-Palatinate would be important. Finally, the FDP is still in the state government, which is otherwise only the case in Saxony-Anhalt. The election will then be made there in September next year.
Strack-Zimmermann demands compromise ability from FDP
The FDP European politician Marie-Egnes Strack-Zimmermann assumes that her party will move back to the Bundestag in four years. “I am very optimistic,” she told the German press agency before the party congress. Many voters did not feel statically bound to any party. “It is relevant: we have to be compromising and should not bite on two or three topics in which we do not move a millimeter, but at the same time annoy ourselves if the others do not move.”
The new chairman takes over the party with solid finance
A little ray of hope: The new party leader does not have to worry financially – at least not for the time being. According to the party, the finances are solid. The liberals largely contested their Bundestag election campaign from donations. So they received a good five million euros in large donations from breaking the traffic lights to the election, as can be seen from the publication by the Bundestag.
After leaving the Bundestag in 2013, the FDP was still a financial renovation case. However, since state party financing depends on the election results, the FDP will face unpleasant loss of income in the coming years.
dpa
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
