Berlin mayor quits re-election bid

BERLIN: Embattled centre-right Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner announced on Friday that he would not run for re-election just weeks before the vote after facing months of criticism over his response to a major blackout in Berlin.
'I can no longer get my message out because another debate is overshadowing everything else', Wegner said.
'Yes, I made mistakes in communication', he added, referring to the blackout in January that left roughly 45,000 homes and around 2,200 businesses without power for nearly a week in the middle of a harsh winter.
Wegner has faced criticism for remaining at home on January 3, after an apparent act of sabotage knocked out power to an entire district of the city.
The mayor almost immediately came under fire for not rushing to the office or the hard-hit areas of the city.
He claimed instead that he was working intensely from home on the response, but local media have questioned this account.
Polls have shown that Wegner, 53, is deeply unpopular and the coalition between his CDU and the centre-left SPD is likely to fall far short of a majority after the September 20 vote.
A poll in early July had the CDU slumping to fourth place, behind the far-left Die Linke, the Greens and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). — AFP