According to preliminary results, CDU candidate Christian Specht won the mayoral election in Mannheim with just 860 votes. After more than 50 years, he ousted the SPD from the top town hall of the second largest city in Baden-Württemberg. An epochal changing of the guard, pointing to the crisis of social democracy in Germany, ever more “green” and ever more distanced from the well-being of the citizens.
Specht said after the narrow victory on Sunday: “It was clear to me that there would be a tough neck-and-neck race after the Greens and Left Party fought together for the SPD.” The victory made him even happier, said the incumbent Mayor who turns 57 in a few days. While the outgoing Peter Kurz (SPD) congratulated Specht, there was loud applause and some negative comments in the meeting room.
“Mayor for all Mannheimers”
According to the city, 49.90% of the votes in the new election went to Specht. SPD candidate Thorsten Riehle, who was clearly defeated in the first ballot in mid-June, now has 48.70%. This time, a simple majority of votes was enough to win. The non-partisan candidate Uğur Çakir lagged behind the competition with 1.31%. Voter turnout was 30.89%. Around 235,000 people were called to vote. The official end result should be available in a few days.
Specht does not have a majority in the city council of the North Baden metropolis on the Rhine and Neckar with around 325,700 inhabitants and will have to try to manage a very complex coalition: The Greens are the largest parliamentary group with 13 seats, followed by the SPD with 10 and the CDU with 8 Sit. FDP/MfM, Freie Wahler – ML and AfD each have 4 seats. The coalition of animal rights activists, the Left Party and “The Party” has five seats. A nice political mess.
This defeat of the SPD takes place in an extremely progressive and prosperous region and points to the general crisis of Chancellor Scholz’s party, which is failing to provide clear leadership to an increasingly insecure Germany.
Thanks to our Telegram channel, you can keep up to date with the release of new Economic Scenarios articles.
⇒ Register now ⇐
