Hubert Aiwanger, 55, Found Dead in Berlin Hotel RoomWorld

He had travelled to Berlin for the opening of his party’s new office, where he was due to speak on Wednesday afternoon. German media reported he cancelled after feeling unwell and stayed at his hotel. When he could not be reached later, his room was opened and he was found dead.

Berlin police and prosecutors have opened a death investigation to establish the exact cause and circumstances and to rule out any involvement by another person. In a statement on Thursday, the prosecutors’ office said no external causes were involved, while adding that forensic examinations would continue. It did not specify a cause of death.

A spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office, Michael Petzold, had earlier told the Bild newspaper there was no initial suspicion of a crime, while nothing could be ruled out at that stage. German media reports said he had been found with no external injuries, and sources in his party’s coalition partner told Bild he had experienced stomach problems.

A long career in Bavarian politics

He had sat in the Bavarian state parliament since 2008 and served as the state’s deputy premier and economy minister since 2018. He led the Free Voters, a conservative party rooted in Bavaria’s local politics, and had been one of the most recognisable figures in the state’s politics for almost two decades.

Born on 26 January 1971 in Ergoldsbach in Lower Bavaria, he grew up on a farm near Rottenburg an der Laaber and trained as an agricultural engineer. He joined the Free Voters ahead of local elections in 2002, led the party in Bavaria from 2006 and took it into the state parliament for the first time in 2008.

In 2018 his party formed its first coalition with the Christian Social Union, and he became economics minister and deputy head of government. In late summer 2023, weeks before a state election, a leaflet from his school days resurfaced and nearly collapsed the coalition. He admitted having copies in his backpack and called its contents disgusting and inhumane. His party still won a record 15.8 per cent.

One goal stayed out of reach: taking the Free Voters into the Bundestag, Germany’s federal parliament. He had planned to seek another term as federal chairman at a convention on 14 November. It is unclear whether that date will hold.

Bavarian Premier Markus Söder wrote on X that the death was an absolute tragedy, adding that his thoughts were with Mr Aiwanger’s family and children. The president of the Bavarian parliament, Ilse Aigner, called it a heavy loss for the state parliament and for politics in Bavaria as a whole.

State Secretary Tobias Gotthardt will take over the day-to-day business of the Economics Ministry at least temporarily, cutting short a delegation trip to Singapore to return to Bavaria. Mr Aiwanger had two children and lived with Tanja Schweiger, a local politician in Regensburg.