German mayor fighting for life after being found in apartment with stab wounds

The newly elected mayor of a town in western Germany has been found with life-threatening stab wounds in what Chancellor Friedrich Merz described as an “abhorrent act”.

Iris Stalzer was elected as mayor of Herdecke on September 28.

She is a member of the centre-left Social Democrats, the junior party in Germany’s conservative-led national government.

Ms Stalzer was found at her home with life-threatening wounds shortly before 1pm on Tuesday, police and prosecutors said in a statement.

She was taken to a hospital by helicopter.

Authorities did not comment on the nature of the wounds, but the leader of the Social Democrats’ parliamentary group in Berlin, Matthias Miersch, told reporters that “we heard a few minutes ago that newly elected mayor Iris Stalzer was stabbed in Herdecke”.

Mr Merz wrote on social media that “we fear for the life of mayor-elect Iris Stalzer and hope for her full recovery”.

The statement from investigators said that they are “investigating in all directions” and that “a family background also cannot be ruled out at present”.

Ms Stalzer, who beat a candidate from Mr Merz’s centre-right Christian Democrats in a run-off vote to win election, is due to take office on November 1.

Herdecke is a town of about 23,000 people in western Germany’s Ruhr region, between the cities of Hagen and Dortmund.

Ms Stalzer’s website says she is 57 and married with two teenage children.

It says she has spent almost her whole life in Herdecke and has worked as a lawyer specialising in labour law.