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Mayor of Frankfurt

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The Mayor of Frankfurt (German: Oberbürgermeister (male) or Oberbürgermeisterin (female), sometimes translated as "Lord Mayor") is the highest-ranking member of city government in Frankfurt, Germany. The mayor was traditionally elected by the city council. This system was replaced in 1995, and the position has been directly elected. Three people have won election since then: Petra Roth (CDU), Peter Feldmann (SPD) and Mike Josef (SPD). In November 2022, following a successful recall election against Feldmann, Nargess Eskandari-Grünberg (Green) was the interim mayor of Frankfurt for six months. Current mayor Mike Josef (SPD) assumed the office in May 2023 following the election with 51.7% of the votes against the CDU candidate Uwe Becker.[1][2]

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.[3]

History

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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).[4] 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.[5]

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.[5]

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.[5]

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.[6] Roth increased her majority over the course of her mayorship, winning in 2007 in the first round with 60.5% of the vote.[7] 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.[8] Following various controversies, Feldmann faced a recall election in which he was recalled with 95.1% of the vote. Deputy Mayor Nargess Eskandari-Grünberg (Green) thus assumed the office and serves in a caretaker capacity until the next election scheduled for March 2023.[9]

Oberbürgermeister since 1868

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Since 1868 there have been 19 mayors of Frankfurt: 14 indirectly elected, 3 appointed and 2 directly elected.[5]

Term Image Name Party Selection method
1868 1880 Daniel Heinrich Mumm von Schwarzenstein [de] Independent Indirect election
1880 1890 Johannes von Miquel NLP Indirect election
1890 1912 Franz Adickes Independent liberal Indirect election
1912 1924 Georg Voigt DDP Indirect election
1924 1933 Ludwig Landmann DDP Indirect election
1933 1945
Celebration with Agnes Miegel.jpg
 Friedrich Krebs NSDAP Appointed by Nazi Party[n 1]
1945 1945 Wilhelm Hollbach [de] Independent Appointed by US military
1945 1946
KAS-Blaum, Kurt-Bild-4991-1.jpg
 Kurt Blaum CDU Appointed by US military
1946 1956 Walter Kolb SPD Indirect election
1956 1964 Werner Bockelmann SPD Indirect election
1964 1970 Willi Brundert SPD Indirect election
1970 1971 Walter Möller SPD Indirect election
1971 1977 Rudi Arndt SPD Indirect election
1977 1986 Walter Wallmann CDU Indirect election
1986 1989
Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F074157-0009, Frankfurt, ZNS Weihnachtskonzert, Hannelore Kohl (cropped).jpg
 Wolfram Brück CDU Indirect election
1989 1991 Volker Hauff SPD Indirect election
1991 1995 Andreas von Schoeler SPD Indirect election
1995 2012 Petra Roth CDU Direct election
2012 2022 Peter Feldmann SPD Direct election
2022 2023 Nargess Eskandari-Grünberg Green Caretaker[n 2]
2023 Incumbent Mike Josef SPD Direct election

Elections

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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 months. The mayor's term is 6 years – elections are brought forward if the mayor resigns or is otherwise removed from office.[3]

2023

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Frankfurt mayoral election, 2023[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
CDU Uwe Becker 70,411 34.5 +11.1
SPD Mike Josef 49,033 24.0 −22.0
Greens Manuela Rottmann 43,502 21.3 +12.0
Independent Peter Wirth (Bahnbabo) 10,397 5.1 –
Left Daniela Mehler-Würzbach 7,356 3.6 −5.2
Independent Maja Wolff 6,014 2.9 –
FDP Yankı Pürsün 5,768 2.8 –
AfD Andreas Lobenstein 4,628 2.3 –
Citizens for Frankfurt (BFF) Matthias Pfeiffer 1,565 0.8 –
PARTEI Katharina Tanczos 1,176 0.6 −0.5
Team Todenhöfer Khurrem Aktar 858 0.4 –
dieBasis Frank Großenbach 744 0.4 –
Gartenpartei Tilo Schwichtenberg 661 0.3 –
Independent Sven Junghans 574 0.3 –
Independent Niklas Pauli 340 0.2 –
Independent Peter Pawelski 325 0.2 –
Independent Feng Xu 199 0.1 –
Independent Karl-Maria Schulte 158 0.1 –
Independent Markus Eulig 102 0.0 –
Turnout 205,116 40.3 +2.7
Runoff election
SPD Mike Josef 92,371 51.7%
CDU Uwe Becker 86,307 48.3%
Turnout 180.442 35.4
SPD hold


2022 recall referendum

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Do you agree with the recall of the Mayor of Frankfurt am Main, Mr Peter Feldmann?
Choice Votes %
Referendum passed Yes 201,825 95.1
No 10,371 4.9
Valid votes 212,196 99.7
Invalid or blank votes 667 0.3
Total votes 212,863 100.00
Turnout required 30
Registered voters/turnout 508,182 41.9
Source: City of Frankfurt am Main[11]

2018

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Frankfurt mayoral election, 2018[12]
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[n 3] 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

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Frankfurt mayoral election, 2012[13][14]
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

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Frankfurt mayoral election, 2007[13]
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
Citizens for Frankfurt (BFF) Wolfgang Hübner 3,790 2.6 –
Independent Horst Schäfer 1,910 1.3 –
NPD Doris Zutt 1,171 0.8 –
REP 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

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Frankfurt mayoral election, 2001[13]
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 –
REP 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

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Frankfurt mayoral election, 1995[13]
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

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Notes

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  1. ^ Krebs was later confirmed by a vote of the city council. However, only Nazi party members were allowed to vote – the left wing parties that held a majority on the council were excluded.
  2. ^ As the Bürgermeister (Deputy Mayor), Eskandari-Grünberg holds the mayorship between Feldmann's recall and the next election.
  3. ^ Stein was a member of the FDP, but did not secure the party's nomination.

References

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  1. ^ "OB-Wahl: Mike Josef wird neuer Oberbürgermeister von Frankfurt". 26 March 2023.
  2. ^ "Mike Josef: Erfolgsgeschichte mit Pausenmodus". 6 June 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Das müssen Sie zur OB-Wahl in Frankfurt wissen". Hessischer Rundfunk. 23 January 2018.
  4. ^ "Section 6". Constitution of Frankfurt. 1814.
  5. ^ a b c d "Chronik der ehemaligen Frankfurter Oberbürgermeister" (in German). Frankfurt.de. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  6. ^ Göpfert, Claus-Jürgen (3 January 2018). "Feldmann profitiert von Schwäche der Konkurrenz" (in German).
  7. ^ Euler, Ralf; Rösmann, Tobias (28 January 2007). "Klarer Sieg für Petra Roth" (in German).
  8. ^ Göpfert, Claus-Jürgen (26 February 2018). "Peter Feldmanns Rezept" (in German).
  9. ^ Leppert, Georg (14 November 2022). "Nargess Eskandari-Grünberg: Plötzlich ist sie Oberbürgermeisterin" [Nargess Eskandari-Grünberg: Suddenly she's the lord mayor]. Frankfurter Neue Presse (in German). Retrieved 24 November 2022.
  10. ^ "Direktwahl 2023 in Frankfurt-am-Main". Wahlamt Frankfurt. 26 March 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  11. ^ "Bürgerentscheid zur Abwahl des Oberbürgermeisters der Stadt Frankfurt am Main, Herrn Peter Feldmann".
  12. ^ "Direktwahl 2018 in Frankfurt-am-Main". Wahlamt Frankfurt. 26 February 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
  13. ^ a b c d "Frankfurter Direktwahlen". Hessischer Rundfunk. 13 March 2012.
  14. ^ "Frankfurter Wahlanalysen 57" (PDF). Wahlamt Frankfurt. 26 March 2012.
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