Germans vote in mayoral elections in Frankfurt and Mainz

 

Admin l Monday, March 06, 2023

 

 

FRANKFURT – Some 509,000 people in Frankfurt are being called upon to vote for a new mayor on Sunday, choosing between 20 candidates. Some 509,000 people in Frankfurt are being called upon to vote for a new mayor on Sunday, choosing between 20 candidates.

Former mayor Uwe Becker is running for the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), while the head of the planning department, Mike Josef, is standing for the Social Democrats (SPD).

Manuela Rottmann is running for the Green Party, which was the strongest party in the last city elections. If no one gets the required absolute majority in the first round of voting, a runoff would be held on March 26.

The election comes about after former SPD mayor Peter Feldmann was voted out of office in November. Feldmann had lost trust in a corruption scandal involving the Association of Welfare Workers (AWO) and a series of missteps. He was later fined for accepting benefits in the AWO scandal although the verdict is not yet legally binding.

People in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate are also voting on Sunday, in a runoff election for the mayor of Mainz. Some 162,000 people are eligible to vote.

The favourite in the runoff is the independent candidate Nino Haase. He is running against Christian Viering of the Green Party.

Haase won 40.2% of the vote in the first round in February, against Viering’s 21.5%. The election was held after incumbent Michael Ebling (SPD) moved to head the state interior ministry.