The party could not extend its success to other states: In the state elections of Sachsen-Anhalt 2002 and Bremen 2003, it won 4.4% and 4.5% of the votes respectively, but failed to surmount the 5% threshold for parliamentary representation. In other states it only polled around 1%. In the 2002 federal election, the Schill party won only 0.8% of the votes. In Spring 2003, Mario Mettbach was elected federal chairman of the party, while Schill continued to lead the Hamburg state branch. After a dispute about Schill's state secretary, Hamburg's first mayor Ole von Beust (CDU) removed Schill from his government office, accusing him of blackmail. Purportedly, Schill had threatened to accuse von Beust of granting undue advantages to the senator of justice, with whom Schill suspected von Beust of having a love affair.