Overview
- Hubert Aiwanger, Bavaria's economics minister and deputy minister‑president, was found dead in a Berlin hotel room on 4 November and was 55 years old.
- A pontifical requiem led by Cardinal Reinhard Marx will begin at 10:30 CET on Saturday, 14 November, followed by a Trauerstaatsakt at 12:00 CET that will be broadcast live by Bayerischer Rundfunk.
- The Berlin public prosecutor's office said a preliminary autopsy showed no indication of third‑party involvement but further forensic and toxicological tests are ongoing.
- Procedural moves are already in place: Stephan Weckmann has accepted Aiwanger's Landtag mandate and Staatssekretär Tobias Gotthardt is running the economics ministry on an acting basis, while the Freie Wähler have postponed their federal congress and will decide permanent replacements after the funeral and private burial.
- Aiwanger's death leaves the Freie Wähler without its defining leader and raises questions about the party's future direction and the stability of the CSU–Freie Wähler coalition in Bavaria.