Wiesbaden (dpa/lhe) – The hurdles for voting out mayors and mayors in Hesse should be lowered after demands from the ranks of the opposition in the state parliament. Such a procedure before the end of a term of office must actually be feasible, regardless of the size of the city or municipality, explained the FDP parliamentary group leader René Rock. “Here, Hesse should follow the example of Brandenburg and not leave the quorum required for voting out rigidly at 30 percent of those entitled to vote, but stagger it according to the number of inhabitants, as is also the case for referendums.”
The background is the discussion about Frankfurt’s Lord Mayor Peter Feldmann (SPD), who is still in office despite numerous calls for his resignation. In view of the low turnout in the 2018 election, it is questionable whether a deselection procedure will be successful. The referendum on Feldmann’s deselection is scheduled for November 6th.
According to their local political spokesman Bernd Erich Vohl, the AfD parliamentary group would also like to make it easier for city leaders to be voted out of office. Vohl argued that while the current approval quorum does not normally pose a problem for smaller communities with relatively high voter turnout, it is an increasingly difficult hurdle for larger cities – especially because of the declining turnout.
AfD and FDP propose adopting the usual staggered quorum for the referendum for the deselection of the mayor. According to this, the majority in municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants would have to be at least 15 percent, in municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants at least 20 percent and in the other municipalities at least 25 percent of the voters.
The parliamentary manager of the Greens parliamentary group, Jürgen Frömmrich, sees no need for change. “There is clearly a problem with the incumbent mayor in Frankfurt,” he said. “But changing the local electoral law would be disproportionate.” The spokeswoman for the CDU parliamentary group also declines: A reform of local electoral law is currently not on the agenda. “If you set the hurdle too low here, this can also result in municipalities making use of it too quickly, even with minor problems.”
SPD parliamentary group leader Günter Rudolph announced that the Social Democrats would not refuse “a constructive discussion” on the subject. “But if you want to lower the hurdles for voting out directly elected mayors, you should also think about strengthening their legitimacy in office,” Rudolph argued and suggested “that a mayoral election only becomes effective if a minimum number of those entitled to vote took part”.
