Since Merkel’s political departure, Philipp Amthor has been considered the best-known CDU politician from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Briefly acted as state party leader in 2020, he is now expected to move up into the narrow leadership ranks.
Bundestag member Philipp Amthor is to become CDU general secretary in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The designated state party leader Daniel Peters announced in Schwerin that he would propose Amthor for the office of general secretary.
Peters, currently serving as general secretary of the Northeast CDU, will run for state chairmanship at the state party conference on April 13 in Rostock. After the surprising announcement of the resignation of the previous party leader Franz-Robert Liskow at the beginning of this year, Amthor was again considered a possible candidate for the top office. But the 31-year-old from Ueckermünde rejected this on the grounds that he currently sees his political place in federal politics. As the new Secretary General, Amthor would intervene in state politics much more than before. Peters had recently repeatedly used this office for violent verbal attacks against the red-red coalition led by Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD).
There is currently no opposing candidate to Peters as the new state party leader. The 42-year-old from Rostock had emphasized that he wanted to lead the party in the long term and thus end the ongoing leadership crisis. According to his own statements, he is also available as the top candidate for the 2026 state elections. Peters would be the fourth CDU state leader in just over four years. In the 2021 state election, the state party, which has almost 4,500 members, achieved its worst result to date with 13.3 percent. This makes it only the third strongest force in parliament, behind the SPD and AfD.
