Mayor of Frankfurt
The Mayor of Frankfurt-am-Main (Oberbürgermeister (male) or Oberbürgermeisterin (female), sometimes translated "Lord Mayor") is the highest-ranking member of city government in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Since 1995, the position has been directly elected. Two people have held the position since the introduction of elections: Petra Roth (CDU) and Peter Feldmann (SPD). Prior to this, the mayor was elected by the city council.
The mayor is "first among equals" on the city cabinet (Magistrat), and acts as the cabinet's spokesperson. The mayor is also responsible for the policies of local government departments and oversees the city's administration.[1]
History
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e2/Daniel_Heinrich_Mumm_von_Schwarzenstein.jpg/180px-Daniel_Heinrich_Mumm_von_Schwarzenstein.jpg)
The Free City of Frankfurt, as a state in the Holy Roman Empire and later the German Confederation, had various leadership structures, the most durable of which saw the city with two mayors: Senior Mayor (Ältere Bürgermeister) and Junior Mayor (Jüngere Bürgermeister).[2] The present position of Oberbürgermeister was introduced in 1868 following the occupation of the city by the Kingdom of Prussia. Through the second half of the 19th century and first half of the 20th century, Frankfurt's mayors oversaw the development of Frankfurt into a major centre for trade and culture.[3]
In 1933 following the appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany, Ludwig Landmann – Frankfurt's first Jewish mayor – was expelled from the council, and Nazi Party member Friedrich Krebs was appointed in his place. Although the left-wing SPD and Communist Party had an overall majority on the council, they were excluded from the council session that confirmed Krebs' appointment.[3]
Krebs remained in office until the US military captured the city in March 1945. The US military governorship that followed appointed trusted democrats as mayor to oversee the immediate denazification of the city administration and the beginnings of reconstruction. Council elections resumed in July 1946, and the SPD held the mayorship for the next thirty years. The rebuilding of Frankfurt was a significant topic in these years.[3]
Following a statewide referendum, the office of mayor in Hesse became directly elected. Frankfurt's first mayoral election was held in 1995 and saw a surprise victory for CDU candidate Petra Roth over the incumbent Andreas von Schoeler (SPD). Since then, mayoral elections have been noted as especially personality-driven, and candidates regularly defy national party trends to become increasingly popular over the course of their mayoralty.[4] Roth increased her majority over the course of her mayorship, winning in 2007 in the first round with 60.5% of the vote.[5] After Roth resigned in 2012, Peter Feldmann (SPD) won a surprise victory over Boris Rhein (CDU), the Hessian interior minister, and he too saw a significant increase vote increase in his second election in 2018.[6]
Oberbürgermeister since 1868
Since 1868 there have been 19 mayors of Frankfurt: 14 indirectly elected, 3 appointed and 2 directly elected.[3]
Elections
The Mayor of Frankfurt is elected by the two-round system: if no candidate receives over 50% in the first round, a run-off is held between the top two candidates. The election is open to German and EU citizens over 18 years old who have lived in the city for at least three years. The mayor's term is 6 years – elections are brought forward if the mayor resigns or is otherwise removed from office.[1]
2018
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
SPD | Peter Feldmann | 86,823 | 46.0 | +6.9 | |
CDU | Bernadette Weyland | 48,032 | 25.4 | −13.7 | |
Greens | Nargess Eskandari-Grünberg | 17,648 | 9.3 | −4.7 | |
Left | Janine Wissler | 16,669 | 8.8 | +5.0 | |
Independent | Volker Stein[fn 2] | 11,218 | 5.9 | – | |
FW | Michael Weingärtner | 2,832 | 1.5 | – | |
PARTEI | Nico Wehneman | 2,097 | 1.1 | – | |
Independent | Karsten Schloberg | 1,585 | 0.8 | – | |
Independent | Ming Yang | 938 | 0.5 | – | |
Independent | Juli Wünsch | 409 | 0.2 | – | |
Independent | Felicia Herrschaft | 340 | 0.2 | – | |
Independent | Hein Fischer | 169 | 0.1 | – | |
Turnout | 188,760 | 37.6 | +0.1 | ||
Runoff election | |||||
SPD | Peter Feldmann | 106,699 | 70.8% | ||
CDU | Bernadette Weyland | 44,080 | 29.2% | ||
Turnout | 152,804 | 30.2 | |||
SPD hold |
2012
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
CDU | Boris Rhein | 67,253 | 39.1 | −21.4 | |
SPD | Peter Feldmann | 56,744 | 33.0 | +5.5 | |
Greens | Rosemarie Heilig | 23,987 | 14.0 | – | |
Airport Expansion Opponents (FAG) | Ursula Fechter | 6,828 | 4.0 | – | |
Left | Janine Wissler | 6,588 | 3.8 | −2.1 | |
Pirates | Herbert Förster | 6,519 | 3.8 | – | |
Independent | Oliver Maria Schmitt | 3,009 | 1.8 | – | |
Independent | Jean Jules Tatchouop | 376 | 0.2 | – | |
Independent | Harald Frenzel | 357 | 0.2 | – | |
Independent | Carl Maria Schulte | 219 | 0.1 | – | |
Turnout | 173,722 | 37.5 | +3.9 | ||
Runoff election | |||||
SPD | Peter Feldmann | 93,232 | 57.4 | ||
CDU | Boris Rhein | 68,569 | 42.6 | ||
Turnout | 163,076 | 35.1 | |||
SPD gain from CDU |
2007
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
CDU | Petra Roth | 86,785 | 60.5 | +11.9 | |
SPD | Franz Frey | 39,410 | 27.5 | −7.1 | |
Left | Ulrich Wilken | 8,495 | 5.9 | +4.4 | |
style="color:inherit;background-color:Template:Free Voters/meta/color;" | | Citizens for Frankfurt (BFF) | Wolfgang Hübner | 3,790 | 2.6 | – |
Independent | Horst Schäfer | 1,910 | 1.3 | – | |
NPD | Doris Zutt | 1,171 | 0.8 | – | |
style="color:inherit;background-color:Template:German politics/party colours/REP;" | | Republicans | Rosemarie Lämmer | 1,041 | 0.7 | −1.1 |
Independent | Salvatore Ribaudo | 549 | 0.4 | – | |
Independent | Pasquale Aita | 165 | 0.1 | – | |
Independent | Kadim Sanli | 163 | 0.1 | – | |
Turnout | 146,150 | 33.6 | −13.5 | ||
CDU hold |
2001
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
CDU | Petra Roth | 92,313 | 48.6 | −3.3 | |
SPD | Achim Vandreike | 65,836 | 34.6 | −9.3 | |
Greens | Jutta Ebeling | 19,579 | 10.3 | – | |
FDP | Hans-Joachim Otto | 3,489 | 1.8 | – | |
style="color:inherit;background-color:Template:German politics/party colours/REP;" | | Republicans | Klaus Sauer | 3,342 | 1.8 | – |
PDS | Eberhard Dähne | 2,789 | 1.5 | – | |
ÖkoLinX-ARL | Zorica Surla | 989 | 0.5 | – | |
fun | Claude Cazaré | 662 | 0.3 | – | |
FdS | Reinhold Müller | 492 | 0.3 | – | |
DMP | Harald Frenzel | 280 | 0.1 | – | |
Independent | Karl-Maria Schulte | 269 | 0.1 | +0.0 | |
Turnout | 193,747 | 46.1 | −9.7 | ||
Runoff election | |||||
CDU | Petra Roth | 89,149 | 53.1 | ||
SPD | Achim Vandreike | 78,823 | 46.9 | ||
Turnout | 169,310 | 40.2 | |||
CDU hold |
1995
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
CDU | Petra Roth | 110,087 | 51.9 | ||
SPD | Andreas von Schoeler | 97,391 | 45.9 | ||
NPD | Günter Deckert | 1,450 | 0.7 | ||
Independent | Thomas Bagatsch | 685 | 0.3 | ||
PBC | Gerhard Heinzmann | 524 | 0.2 | ||
Independent | Renate Ermel | 515 | 0.2 | ||
ÖDP | Dietrich Buroh | 511 | 0.2 | ||
Independent | Karl-Marie Schulte | 259 | 0.1 | ||
Independent | Siegfried Niebert | 249 | 0.1 | ||
Independent | Michael Weißbach | 241 | 0.1 | ||
Independent | Alfred Steininger | 91 | 0.1 | ||
Turnout | 213,974 | 55.8 | |||
CDU win (new seat) |
See also
Footnotes
References
- ^ a b "Das müssen Sie zur OB-Wahl in Frankfurt wissen". Hessischer Rundfunk. 23 January 2018.
- ^ "Section 6". Constitution of Frankfurt. 1814.
- ^ a b c d "Chronik der ehemaligen Frankfurter Oberbürgermeister" (in German). Frankfurt.de. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
- ^ Göpfert, Claus-Jürgen (3 January 2018). "Feldmann profitiert von Schwäche der Konkurrenz" (in German).
- ^ Euler, Ralf; Rösmann, Tobias (28 January 2007). "Klarer Sieg für Petra Roth" (in German).
- ^ Göpfert, Claus-Jürgen (26 February 2018). "Peter Feldmanns Rezept" (in German).
- ^ "Direktwahl 2018 in Frankfurt-am-Main". Wahlamt Frankfurt. 26 February 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
- ^ a b c d "Frankfurter Direktwahlen". Hessischer Rundfunk. 13 March 2012.
- ^ "Frankfurter Wahlanalysen 57" (PDF). Wahlamt Frankfurt. 26 March 2012.