Hubert Aiwanger, the deputy premier of the German state of Bavaria and leader of the Free Voters party, has died suddenly at the age of 55, Bavarian state premier Markus Söder said.
Aiwanger was found dead in his hotel room in Berlin on Wednesday, 4 November 2026. He had travelled to the German capital for the opening of a new office for his Free Voters party but missed the event after feeling unwell, the Bild newspaper reported. His body was later found in the hotel, in the Berlin-Mitte district.
Berlin police and prosecutors have opened an investigation to establish the cause and the circumstances of his death and to rule out any third-party involvement. The cause of death was not immediately clear.
Söder described the death as an “absolute tragedy” and said: “We are all deeply shocked. Our thoughts are now first and foremost with his family and his children.”
Aiwanger had led the Bavarian branch of the Free Voters since 2006 and served as Bavaria’s deputy premier and economy minister since 2018, when the party entered the state government for the first time as the junior coalition partner of Söder’s Christian Social Union (CSU).
He had faced national controversy in 2023 after it emerged that Nazi pamphlets had been found in his schoolbag as a teenager in the late 1980s. He apologised over the affair but refused to step down.
Aiwanger had two children and lived with his partner, German media reported.
Sources: Reuters and AFP via Malay Mail
