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.<\/p>\n
“I can no longer get my message out because another debate is overshadowing everything else”, Wegner said.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The mayor almost immediately came under fire for not rushing to the office or the hard-hit areas of the city.<\/p>\n
He claimed instead that he was working intensely from home on the response, but local media have questioned this account.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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). \u2014 AFP<\/p>\n
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