The mayor of Höchstadt an der Aisch, Gerald Brehm, is resigning from the Free Voters. In the SZ conversation, he cited political developments surrounding FW boss Hubert Aiwanger as the main reason. Brehm, 62, has been in office since 1996, and during this time he has always defined himself as a “centrist politician”. In the meantime, however, the Free Voters are often perceived as “to the right of the CSU”, although in his opinion the party is hardly doing anything about it. He doesn’t want to be a member of a party that is perceived that way.
The mayor of the city in the Erlangen-Höchstadt district also expressed direct criticism of Aiwanger. He showed “not enough humility” in the leaflet affair and instead pointed to others. Everyone made mistakes as a youth, and Aiwanger should have faced them offensively.
The speech in Erding was also Aiwanger’s mistake. You don’t have to bring back democracy, but rather remind yourself again and again that you have a democracy and what a great value it is. Brehm does not want to run as a candidate for mayor again in the 2026 election.