The Christian Democrats (CDU) became the largest party in Berlin in the 2023 elections, led by Kai Wegner. But now he says he will not run in the upcoming elections in September because his message is overshadowed by the criticism he received after the major power outage in Berlin in early January.
Around 45,000 households were without power for several days and many also lacked heating.
Wegner has received harsh criticism for his crisis management and for staying home when the power outage occurred instead of rushing to the office or visiting the affected areas.
Opinion polls show that the 53-year-old Wegner is very unpopular and the coalition between the CDU and the Social Democratic SPD is expected to fall in the upcoming election.
