Dhe Hessian Interior Minister Peter Beuth (CDU) will not return to the state parliament in autumn 2023. He decided to do this “after careful consideration and consultation with my family,” according to a letter to the district executive and to the delegates of the constituency assembly, who wanted to put Beuth on Friday in Idstein for the seventh time as an applicant for the direct mandate in the Lower Taunus.
He did not take this decision lightly, because “politics have been an integral part of my life for much longer than my membership in the Hessian state parliament”. After more than two decades as a member of parliament, he wants to give a new candidate the opportunity to contribute his ideas and provide impetus.”
Only at the weekend had Beuth informed the CDU district chairman and member of the Bundestag Klaus-Peter Willsch that he would no longer apply for the nomination as a candidate for the state parliament. Beuth took the party leadership completely by surprise. Now it boils down to the previous substitute applicant, André Stolz from Idstein, as a direct candidate. Stolz, was chairman of the CDU district parliamentary group for many years and is chairman of the district council. This “is ready to tackle the work for our homeland and our party,” writes Beuth.
In 1999, following the clear victory of the CDU in the state elections, Beuth surprisingly took over the direct mandate from the then SPD MP Manfried Weber. In the five elections that followed, he defended it sovereignly. From 2009 to 2014, Beuth was Secretary General of his party before he was appointed Minister of the Interior by Volker Bouffier in 2014. Beuth has also been a member of the CDU federal executive board for many years. After Beuth’s announcement, it remained open whether he would generally withdraw from state politics in autumn 2023. There was no confirmation of this, although it was heard from party circles that membership in the cabinet without a mandate was difficult to imagine. Beuth could not be reached for questions on Monday.
With Beuth, the CDU district association loses a “driving force”, Willsch commented on the decision on Monday. He and Beuth “marched together as a team”. Because the CDU member of the state parliament Petra Müller-Klepper is not aiming for the direct mandate for the Rheingau again, Willsch speaks of a turning point for the CDU Rheingau-Taunus. Instead of Müller-Klepper, her previous substitute candidate Ingo Schon from Eltville will apply for the direct mandate.
Beuth’s announcement that he no longer wanted to be a member of the next Hessian state parliament apparently also surprised large parts of the Hessian CDU. There was no detailed comment on the interior minister’s decision on Monday from the state association, even when asked. Hesse’s Prime Minister Boris Rhein, who is also the state chairman of the Christian Democrats, shared the following sentence: “It is a private and personal decision by Peter Beuth not to run for the Hessian state parliament.” When asked what effects Beuth’s announcement would have on his office as Minister of the Interior and whether it can still be expected that the Taunussteiner will belong to the new cabinet after the election in the event of a victory of the incumbent state government, Rhein replied: “There are no further conclusions from this (Beuth’s announcement, editor’s note). .”
Green surprised by Beuth’s announcement
The Greens were also caught off guard by Beuth’s decision. “The announcement came as a surprise to us,” said parliamentary group leader Mathias Wagner, adding: “It is the individual decision of each MP whether to run again. Because of course there is also life outside of politics, and politics – contrary to some prejudices – is not everything, even for top politicians Decision affects the next and not the current election period.
