North Rhine-Westphalia: SPD head of state Kuchaty gives up

Status: 03/23/2023 1:21 p.m

SPD country leader Kuchaty resigns from his post. He thus drew the consequences of the failure of his personnel proposal for the post of Secretary General. It is unclear whether he will remain the leader of the parliamentary group.

SPD state chairman Thomas Kutschaty has resigned from his post. As chairman, you need “the full support of all party bodies,” said Kuchaty on Thursday in Düsseldorf. He acknowledged that there were “differing views”. The NRW-SPD is facing major challenges.

Disaster at the Bureau

Trigger for the resignation: On Wednesday, Kutschaty proposed Bonn lawyer Magdalena Möhlenkamp as the new general secretary to the presidium of the NRW-SPD. But the board dismissed him. A heavy defeat for the state chairman before the state party conference in May. “That was not approved,” Kuchaty said in his statement on Thursday.

So he’s taking the consequences and resigning. It remained unclear whether the 54-year-old faction leader of the Social Democrats would remain in the state parliament. Kutschay said he wanted to discuss the situation with the bodies of the parliamentary group.

Internal party criticism of Kuchaty, who was clearly defeated by Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) in the 2022 state election, had increased in recent months. The state chairman communicates too little and hardly cares about the state association, according to the presidency. Kuschaty is concentrating too much on his office as parliamentary group leader in the Düsseldorf state parliament.

The lawyer from Essen was Minister of Justice for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2010 to 2017. He then became the leader of the Social Democrats in the state parliament. In 2021, the party elected him state chairman.

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