Hubert Aiwanger found dead at 55: what happens to the Free Voters now?

Hubert Aiwanger, leader of the Free Voters and Bavaria's deputy governor and economy minister, was found dead in his hotel room in central Berlin on Wednesday evening, Berlin police and prosecutors said. He was 55.

An autopsy carried out Thursday produced no evidence that anyone else was involved in his death, prosecutors said.

Hours before he was found, Aiwanger had been scheduled to speak Wednesday afternoon at the opening of a Berlin office for his party. He pulled out of the event for health reasons, German news agency dpa reported.

Aiwanger had led the Free Voters in Bavaria since 2006 and nationally since 2010. Under his leadership, the party entered Bavaria's state legislature in Munich in 2008 and became a serious rival to the Christian Social Union, the long-dominant party in the state and part of the center-right bloc that currently leads Germany.

His death removes a combative, populist figure who turned a regional party into a national contender and challenged Bavaria's political establishment. It also leaves immediate questions: who leads the Free Voters in Bavaria and nationally, whether the party's national expansion stalls, and how the CSU and Germany's center-right coalition respond to the loss of a rival.

The circumstances — a last-minute withdrawal for health reasons followed by a death in a hotel room — have already generated political speculation and conspiracy theories. Police and prosecutors have said only that the autopsy found no evidence of anyone else's involvement.