Governing mayor: Kai Wegner withdraws CDU top candidate for Berlin election

Berlin’s Governing Mayor
Kai Wegner (CDU) is withdrawing its top candidacy for the Berlin election in September. He announced this in a press statement in Berlin.

It was always important to him to be authentic, said Wegner. In the past few days, however, he has no longer been able to communicate with people on the crucial issues Berlin to penetrate because another debate overshadows everything.

There is criticism of Wegner primarily because of his behavior during the day-long power outage in southwest Berlin at the beginning of the year. At first there was excitement because Wegner was playing tennis on the first day of the power outage. Later, his statements about what happened that day continued to raise new questions. Last Tuesday, the Tagesspiegel reported, citing information from the Senate Chancellery, that unlike what he initially stated, Wegner did not make a business telephone call about the blackout in the morning on January 3rd.

Recently, pressure on Wegner from within his own party had increased. Several Berlin CDU members called on him to resign as governing mayor in an open letter. The head of the Berliner Junge Union appealed to Wegner to withdraw his top candidacy.

In surveys for the Berlin election, which will take place on September 20th, the CDU recently fell back to fourth place behind the Left, the Greens and the AfD.

This article will continue to be updated.