Post-mortem finds no sign of a crime in the death of Bavarian deputy premier Aiwanger, Söder wants to keep the coalition going

Hubert Aiwanger, deputy premier and economy minister of the German state of Bavaria, was found dead on Wednesday evening in a hotel room in Berlin-Mitte. He was 55. According to the Berlin newspaper Tagesspiegel, he had cancelled an interview that morning because he felt unwell, and during the day he was unable to give a speech at the opening of his party's Berlin office. After that he could not be reached.

A first result from the post-mortem shows no involvement of third parties, German public broadcaster ZDF reports, citing Berlin prosecutors. Further forensic tests are still under way, so the investigation into the cause of death has not been closed. According to Tagesspiegel, Berlin authorities assumed on the first evening that he died of natural causes linked to health problems.

Aiwanger had led the Freie Wähler since 2010, a regional party he built up in Bavaria into a governing partner of the CSU. In 2023 he came under fire over an antisemitic leaflet from his school days, which his brother later said he had written, Tagesspiegel recalls. Minister-President Markus Söder (CSU) said he was shocked, ordered flags to fly at half-mast and announced that the coalition with the Freie Wähler will continue, ZDF reports. The party plans to decide on its next steps by the weekend.