FDP General Secretary Martin Hagen does not view the lost state elections in Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and Saxony-Anhalt as evidence that the new party leadership, under Wolfgang Kubicki, has failed. Hagen stated to the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” (Saturday edition) that these elections came too early to serve as definitive measures for a party realignment, which is still underway. He added that the upward trend nationally is not yet strong enough to lift smaller states like Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
According to the FDP General Secretary, it will be the state elections scheduled for next spring in North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland, and Schleswig-Holstein that will reveal whether their current strategy is yielding positive results. “I am convinced that we will be successful there,” Hagen continued.
Furthermore, he anticipates “dramatic changes” within the German party system. Hagen pointed out that the old mass parties are currently undergoing a disintegration. While the Social Democratic Party (SPD) has already lost much of its former standing, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is currently in the process of doing so. He concluded that these structural changes present potential opportunities for the FDP.
