On 23 January 1990 Riege was elected to the university rectorship. However, due to "procedural errors" the election was re-run, and this time Riege, deeply upset by the whole business, did not resubmit himself for election. The period was one of intensified political turmoil, and it would appear that the objections from those who had complained related to their identification of Riege as a "party official" of the country's ruling Socialist Unity Party. Sources are divided in their evaluation of the incident. Ironically, the previous time he had sought election as Jena's university rector it had been party pressure that had blocked his election.
