Frankfurt/Darmstadt (dpa/lhe) – In about three months there will be a new election at the top of the city of Frankfurt. On March 5, the citizens will decide on the successor to the deselected Lord Mayor Peter Feldmann (SPD). According to the political scientist Christian Stecker, the longing for a personality with integrity is in the foreground. Feldmann was voted out after corruption charges. The voters are concerned with who can best represent the city and restore the dignity of the office.
“The ex-OB acts as a negative contrast foil here. Feldmann was popular in the city, especially when it came to his socio-political agenda, but he then managed to use his legal strategy, in which he distanced himself from his family, to present himself as a to make the person very unpopular and to be considered a narcissist and a person with no integrity,” said Stecker, a professor of political science in Darmstadt.
The fact that no incumbent is running makes the election exciting and could increase voter turnout, said Stecker: “The cards are being reshuffled here.” Independent candidates also want to stand for election, including tram driver Peter Wirth, also known on social networks as “Bahnbabo”, and entrepreneur Maja Wolff.
These candidates could also attract additional voters and create interesting debates, said Stecker. The chance of winning in Frankfurt without a party represented in the Bundestag behind you is slim in view of the previous elections.
In the first ballot of the last mayor election in 2018, 37.6 percent of those entitled to vote cast their votes.
