Wolfgang Kubicki is the newly elected party leader of the German FDP.Image: DPA
There was a surprise at the party conference of the German Liberals when Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann declared her candidacy for the presidency. Their respectable success suggests that the party is unlikely to calm down any time soon.
May 30, 2026, 5:05 p.mMay 30, 2026, 5:05 p.m
Hansjörg Friedrich Müller, Berlin / ch media
There is a strange term in the vocabulary of German journalists: it is “combat vote” and is used primarily in the context of intra-party competitions. Where a meeting of delegates should smoothly promote a candidate, a challenger suddenly appears – and causes excitement, even though he is only creating something that should be democratic normality: competition.
On Saturday it was Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann who startled reporters and delegates: The German liberals had met in Berlin to elect Wolfgang Kubicki as leader. An alternative was not planned because Henning Höne, Kubicki’s original competitor for the presidency, had already withdrawn his application weeks ago and supported the 74-year-old favorite.
The Liberals were faced with a decision
Early on Saturday afternoon, when some delegates were probably still in the state of lethargy that usually occurs after lunch, the 68-year-old EU parliamentarian Strack-Zimmermann surprised her party colleagues like a jack-in-the-box surprised the participants at a children’s birthday party. The delegates reacted with boos, but also with applause.
From the point of view of Strack-Zimmermann and her supporters, nothing less than the soul of the party was at stake: they see Kubicki as a right-wing populist who they trust to do anything bad, including a rapprochement with the AfD. Many people also dislike the style of the lawyer from Schleswig-Holstein. For example, he called Chancellor Merz an “asshole”.
By making similar statements, he also gives the party the attention that it will have to fight hard for after leaving the Bundestag in spring 2025. The fact that 39-year-old Höne ultimately decided not to run against Kubicki was due to this realization: in order to survive, the party does not need an unknown young talent, but rather a boss whose name is introduced and who generates headlines with accurate formulations.
Kubicki covers the larger gap in the market
However, Strack-Zimmermann can also claim this for herself, as she has proven her ability to appear on a talk show in recent years as an eloquent supporter of Ukraine and has thus achieved nationwide fame.
Politically, however, it represents a different course than Kubicki: While he seems to want to position the FDP somewhere between the Union and the AfD, it pursues a more left-liberal approach that fits with the FDP’s tradition as an establishment party. However, Kubicki should cover the larger gap in the market, because what Strack-Zimmermann offers, voters can also find in many Green or Union politicians.
The majority of delegates apparently shared this view, and so there was no sensation on Saturday: Kubicki prevailed with 390 votes, but Strack-Zimmermann achieved a respectable success with 259 votes, which suggests that the dispute over the direction in the party may have only just begun.
It was already clear before the party conference that Kubicki’s task of leading the FDP back into the Bundestag would not be easy, but it may be even more difficult than initially thought.