FDP deputy chairman Wolfgang Kubicki plans to run for party leadership at the May congress. He pledged to restore the party's success with renewed confidence. Kubicki challenges incumbent Christian Dürr and Henning Höne.
Wolfgang Kubicki, FDP deputy chairman and former Bundestag vice president, announced his candidacy for party leadership at the late May congress. In an interview with Bild am Sonntag, he stated: «I want a party that leads political debates in this country with new confidence, instead of following them.» Kubicki stressed that Germany awaits an FDP clear in content and language for freedom, not one lost in academic debates. His office confirmed the plans to Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
The FDP is in crisis after electoral defeats. In March, it failed the five-percent hurdle in state elections in Rheinland-Pfalz and Baden-Württemberg. It had already lost its Bundestag seats in the February 2025 federal election following the collapse of the Ampel coalition and Christian Lindner's resignation. The federal executive board around Dürr plans to resign en bloc at the congress, but Dürr and NRW state leader Henning Höne intend to run again.
The 74-year-old Kubicki, an MP from Schleswig-Holstein since 1990, envisions Martin Hagen as general secretary. He received support from CDU politician Peter Harry Carstensen, who called him «the face of the FDP.» Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann considered a dual leadership but now backs Höne's solo bid.
