"Unfortunately not healthy"

SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert resigns

(Bild: APA/dpa/Christoph Soeder)

Just over a year before the German parliamentary elections, Kevin Kühnert is stepping down as General Secretary of the SPD. The 35-year-old explained his decision in a written press release, citing health problems.

In an email to party members, he cited his health as the reason. "I myself cannot rise above myself at the moment because I am unfortunately not healthy," Kühnert wrote on Monday.

"I need the energy required for my office and an election campaign to get healthy again in the foreseeable future. That is why I am drawing the consequences," said the politician.

(Bild: APA/dpa/Christoph Soeder)

Party leaders informed of withdrawal
He has therefore informed party leaders Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil that he is stepping down as Secretary General. He will also not stand again as a member of parliament in the Bundestag elections. This means that the Berliner is withdrawing from politics for the time being.

"These decisions have cost me a lot of effort and they hurt me because I put my heart and soul into my political work," he explained. But he bears responsibility for himself and for the SPD. "By taking full care of my health now, I believe I am best able to fulfill my dual responsibility." The full commitment of the entire SPD is necessary for an election victory.

Has been SPD Secretary General since 2021
Kühnert has been General Secretary of the Social Democrats since 2021 and entered the Bundestag in Berlin in the same year. Prior to this, he became known throughout Germany as chairman of the Jusos - partly because he organized a campaign against a grand coalition (GroKo) between the Christian Democratic Union and the SPD.

In 2019, he played a decisive role when the party leftists Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans won the run-off election against the current Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Klara Geywitz for the SPD leadership.