Silvio Witt becomes the new Ombudsman – promotion after resignation!

Silvio Witt becomes the new Ombudsman – promotion after resignation!

The political landscape in Neubrandenburg is facing fundamental changes. Silvio Witt, the former mayor, was proposed by the SPD parliamentary group as the country's new ombudsman. This has made waves after it was announced that he was to take over for the outgoing Christian Frenzel, who is moving to the Interior Ministry. Frenzel himself took up this position after the resignation of Wolfgang Schmülling, who has been criticized for a controversial promotion of a police officer that triggered fury-like reactions within the police force. NDR reports that Not only the political majority is supporting the change, but also Witt himself, whose own term as mayor will end on May 31, 2025.

Witt surprisingly announced his resignation in October 2024 due to a conflict over the hoisting of the rainbow flag at Neubrandenburg train station. He justified his resignation with the behavior of certain people who, in his opinion, did not act in the interests of the city. His decision was received differently in city politics: While some political actors, such as Michael Stieber from the SPD, showed understanding for Witt's resignation and reported derogatory attacks, others, such as Peter Fink from the AfD, expressed harsh criticism of his decision on social media. Nordkurier highlights that Witt was elected in 2015 as a non-party candidate with the support of the SPD and won re-election in 2022 with an impressive 87.5%.

Witt's new challenge

A noteworthy point is that the SPD parliamentary group recently awarded Witt the Stelling Prize. This honor commemorates a murdered Social Democrat and former Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, which has symbolic value in the current political debate. Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig gave the laudatory speech in which Michel Friedman urged people to take more decisive action against the AfD. In a year, a new ombudsman will also be elected in the state parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. According to NDR The political course has been set for Witt, and it now remains to be seen how the voters will react to this new chapter.

Amid these turbulent developments, the representation of the approximately 6,000 police officers in the region remains skeptical of Schmülling's actions and has clearly distanced itself from his decisions. It turns out that the political mood in Neubrandenburg remains tense and that citizens are reacting excitedly to the next steps.