"Room for fresh minds": FDP General Secretary Buschmann also resigns

The Liberals are drawing further conclusions after the election debacle: Following the resignation of party leader Lindner, Secretary General Buschmann has now also announced that he will be giving up his office. However, the party leadership is once again optimistic about the future of the FDP.

The FDP's departure from the Bundestag has resulted in another resignation: In addition to party leader Christian Lindner, Secretary General Marco Buschmann is also stepping down. "If you have responsibility, you have to draw conclusions from it," said Buschmann at a press conference of his party in Berlin. Lindner had already announced his resignation on Sunday evening.

The FDP fell to just 4.3 percent in Sunday's election, meaning it will be thrown out of the Bundestag for the second time after 2013. "That's why I have decided that there must now be room for new and fresh minds," said Buschmann. He will now observe the FDP's development "as a spectator."

Buschmann has only been Secretary General since November last year - formally only in an acting capacity, because he was not elected by a party congress. The future leadership will be elected at the party congress in May. Until then, the current party leadership will remain in office.

Party leader Lindner promised an "orderly transition" after the resignation. He himself remains "closely connected to the FDP and when I am asked for advice or help, I am there with some distance," said Lindner. But: "I do not see myself in a leading role."

The outgoing chairman also sees good conditions for the FDP to return to the Bundestag in four years. The FDP's organization is "in excellent health," he said. In this respect, the situation is now significantly different from 2013, when the organization was in dire straits. "The next party leadership will take over a healthy and stable organization with a foundation - important conditions for a comeback in the next federal election."