Berlin's Governing Mayor Kai Wegner resigns as CDU lead candidate after contradictory claims about call with Chancellor Merz
Kai Wegner withdrew his candidacy for the September 20 Abgeordnetenhaus election, the latest twist in a months-long scandal over his crisis management during January's Berlin power outage.
The controversy
The Berlin power outage in early January 2026 became a political scandal for Governing Mayor Kai Wegner after his statements about crisis calls with Chancellor Friedrich Merz were repeatedly contradicted. The dispute centres on whether the two CDU politicians actually spoke by phone during the 3–5 January blackout.
Contradictory accounts
On 5 January, Wegner told RBB-Abendschau: 'Yesterday I spoke once more with the Federal Chancellor as well.' On 11 July the Senate Chancellery insisted that Wegner did phone Merz on 4 January. The same day, however, the Chancellery informed the Berlin Administrative Court in writing that 'no personal conversation between the Federal Chancellor and Berlin’s Governing Mayor Wegner took place during the power outage in question, neither in person nor by phone.' The Tagesspiegel had obtained this statement after filing an urgent legal application under press freedom laws in late June, having received no clear answer for weeks. A government spokesperson reiterated that the Chancellery’s information was 'still factually accurate' – meaning no call occurred. Earlier, a government spokesperson had initially claimed multiple Wegner-Merz calls on 3 January, then corrected that record in mid-May. On 8 July the Tagesspiegel reported that Wegner made no official calls on the morning of 3 January, contrary to his earlier claim that he began phoning crisis teams at 8:08 a.m.
- Berlin power outage begins; Wegner’s office says he contacted the Chancellery
- Wegner claims he phoned Chancellor Merz
- Wegner tells RBB television he spoke with Merz the day before
- Government spokesperson initially says multiple Wegner-Merz calls on January 3
- Government corrects: no call between Wegner and Merz on January 3
- Tagesspiegel reports Wegner made no crisis calls on the morning of January 3
- Wegner resigns as CDU lead candidate; Chancellery maintains no call occurred
Resignation
Wegner announced his withdrawal as CDU lead candidate at a surprise press conference on Friday afternoon, 11 July. He will remain as Governing Mayor until a successor is elected in the state parliament. The resignation follows months of criticism over his crisis management and what political scientist Julia Reuschenbach described as an erosion of integrity.
Lies and false statements indicate a lack of integrity, a lack of reliability. People ask: can that happen again if he continues to govern, if another crisis hits Berlin?
CDU taps Evers
Finance Senator Stefan Evers was immediately proposed by CDU district chairs on Friday evening. The party’s state executive is expected to nominate him on Monday. Evers does not need confirmation by a party conference, though such a step is common for political optics. Wegner had been selected as lead candidate at a party convention on 9 June with nearly 93 percent support. Evers, a finance specialist and former CDU general secretary, now has 71 days to turn around a campaign that has been mired in the controversy over Wegner’s false statements.
Election outlook
The Abgeordnetenhaus election on 20 September leaves little time. Polls show all major parties within a few percentage points, with no clear frontrunner. Hesse Minister President Boris Rhein called it a genuine directional election. Evers must shift the debate from Wegner’s credibility crisis to the core choice between a CDU-led government and the red-red-green coalition that governed Berlin from 2016 to 2023.
