The North Rhine-Westphalian SPD party leader Thomas Kutschaty has resigned. The 54-year-old said at noon in Düsseldorf that he had informed the state board that he was stepping down as SPD chairman on Thursday. It had previously been confirmed by circles in the SPD presidium that the resignation had already been completed. At noon there was a crisis switch of the SPD state executive.

The trigger for the resignation was a controversial personnel decision by Kuchaty. Since the SPD's defeat in the North Rhine-Westphalia state elections in May 2022, there had already been internal criticism of Kuchaty, who had failed as the top candidate.