Unclear circumstances of death: Who was Aiwanger, Bavaria’s conservative know-it-all?

The uncertainty fuels speculation, According to the police, nothing can be ruled out. AFrom an Austrian perspective, Aiwanger has the potential to achieve “legend status” like the former FPÖ boss Jörg Haider to receive: The waves that his death could make are likely to at least shake Bavarian politics and the CSU retains power question.

Folk hero and ridiculed

There have been a number of unmistakable figures in Bavarian politics, and Aiwanger was one of them. Argumentative, contentious, populist: in his homeland, some consider it to be Folk hero revered, in Munich and outside Bavaria sometimes as Polit-Caricature mocked. He gained notoriety beyond the Free State when he appeared during the Corona-Pandemic publicly refused to be vaccinated. And only gave in when the CDU state father Markus Söder “obliged” him to do so. This also caused negative headlines Leaflet affair: During his school days, Aiwanger is said to have been punished for a right-wing extremist, anti-Semitic letter, of which his brother later revealed himself to be the author. “Yes, I did shit in my youth too,” Aiwanger explained at the time.

Aiwanger was the cliche of a typical one Bavarian farmeralways in Traditional jacket on the go, hunting in his free time. The agricultural engineer lived on his parents’ farm in Lower Bavaria and bred pigs. The role of rural roots Conservativeswho complained and rumbled for the “little people” against “those up there”, the elitist, academic city dwellers, had to he never play. When a farmer once had to pay a fine for a cow dung on the street, Aiwanger came by in person in a media-heavy manner and paid the fine out of his own pocket. Aiwanger never minced his words, especially not in the beer tent: “You’ve got your asses open,” he once told the traffic light government in Berlin.

Aiwanger has belonged to the since 2001 Free voters on, one from the Circle of the CSU a collective movement of small parties that never wanted to commit itself ideologically to left or right. Once they campaigned for the expansion of free child care, then against the third runway at Munich Airport, but always for federal structures and more power for the municipalities. As Aiwanger from 2006 Party chairmanship took over, he gave the party a face and made it a little more conservative and right-wing. He was repeatedly accused of selfishness and strict leadership within the party. There were never any opposing candidates in the elections for party leader.

Troublemaker in his own government

Since slipping below the 40 percent threshold in 2018, the CSU has been dependent on the Free Voters. Aiwanger regularly positioned himself as Opposition in the coalitionas disruptive factor the crumbling dominance of the CSU and critics of the “megalomania“ the CSU: The question of who is more Bavarian is the unspoken bone of contention between the CSU and the Free Voters.

The CSU laughed at “Hubsi” for a long time – until he began to overtake them in their conservatism. This seemed to score points with the voters: The Free Voters win votes in elections since 2018 are a kind of gathering place for disappointed CSU and not-yet-AfD voters; In 2023 they achieved a plus of 4.2 percentage points Record result of 15.8 percent and ended up just ahead of the AfD. Both The party was able to win local elections in spring 2026 in district council runoff elections Win almost every duel against the CSU.

Aiwanger’s goal was, even though he downright despised the political elite in Berlin Entry into the Bundestag. He wanted to bring “common sense” into the federal government, but his party regularly failed at the five percent hurdle. On Wednesday evening there would be one Capital Office of the Free Voters in Berlin, he canceled the appointment because he didn’t feel well.

In the past few months, with the Union in Berlin taking over government responsibility and Söder’s new, statesmanlike demeanor, Aiwanger has also held back from blustering. In September, Aiwanger rushed ahead with the statement that he wanted to continue to govern with Söder next state election in 2028 out. Söder said on Thursday, Aiwanger leaves a “deep gap” in politics.

It is unclear whether the Free Voters will find a similarly distinctive figure, who is needed alongside Söder, after Aiwanger’s death. Söder would thus lose an important coalition partner; given his categorical rejection of the black-green coalition, he would only be left with the AfD, which is also gaining strength in Bavaria. But a lot of things happen in Bavaria that would be impossible elsewhere: In Munich, for example, the Free Voters govern with the SPD, FDP and Greens.