2024-07-18 07:59:25
Brandenburg’s CDU top candidate Jan Redmann rides an e-scooter after drinking alcohol. He is asked to take a test by the police during a routine check. What consequences does he face?
Brandenburg’s CDU state and parliamentary group leader Jan Redmann was stopped by the police two months before the state election while driving an electric scooter with a blood alcohol level of 1.3 per mille. Redmann, the CDU’s top candidate, admitted making a mistake. He also announced that he wanted to remain the top candidate. A new state parliament will be elected in Brandenburg on September 22nd.
“In doing so, I violated rules that are justified, because it is of course also about road safety – whether it is a car, a bicycle or an e-scooter,” said Redmann, who is a lawyer. “I stand by this mistake. I will accept the consequences and in particular the punishment that results from it.” He has already voluntarily handed in his driving license.
The CDU politician is not planning any political consequences for his candidacy. “I will continue the election campaign with undiminished intensity,” said Redmann. “I want to become the Prime Minister of this country.” He owes it to the CDU to get even more involved. Redmann referred to a transparent approach to the incident. According to him, proceedings are currently underway.
Redmann said he was stopped by the police during a routine check on Thursday while driving home from an evening with friends on an e-scooter. The officers in Potsdam asked him to take a breathalyzer test. The quick test showed a breath alcohol content of 1.3 per mille.
“I am applying for the office of Prime Minister,” Redmann wrote in a statement. He is someone “who wants to and can take on responsibility, but also someone who is not free from mistakes and stands by them, even if it is personally painful.” “I ask the people of Brandenburg to judge me on my political ideas and solutions for the future of the state and not on the basis of a mistake that I myself am most sorry about.”
CDU General Secretary Gordon Hoffmann showed understanding. “People make mistakes and the decisive factor is how you deal with them,” said Hoffmann. “This approach is transparent, consistent and shows that Jan Redmann has decency. That is why we also see him as the right top candidate to lead Brandenburg as Prime Minister.” In the latest survey by Infratest dimap for RBB, the CDU is tied with the SPD at 19 percent, behind the AfD at 23 percent.
One of the best-known examples of alcohol in traffic is Margot Käßmann, who resigned as President of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) in 2010 because of driving while under the influence of alcohol. Redmann sees his incident differently. “The case (…) is, I believe, not directly comparable with the case from yesterday evening.”