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ofJens Joachim
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shut down
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Darmstadt’s Mayor Rafael Reiser (CDU) and City Planning Councilor Barbara Boczek (Greens) have been voted out of office at the request of the Greens, CDU and Volt.
Mayor Rafael Reisser (CDU) and City Planning Councilor Barbara Boczek (Greens) were voted out for the first time on Thursday evening during the latest session of the city parliament. The corresponding requests were made by the parliamentary groups of the Greens, CDU and Volt, which are currently negotiating the formation of a coalition. They are expected to present an agreement in mid-June.
For Boczek’s dismissal – with 26 votes against and four abstentions – all 36 city councilors from the ranks of the emerging coalition factions voted. The four left city councilors who were still present then voted for the motion to recall Mayor Reisser early, so that there were 40 votes in favor. Three FDP city councilors and one from Uwiga voted against Reisser’s early recall, 22 parliamentarians abstained.
According to the Hessian municipal code, dismissals of full-time members of the magistrate must be discussed and voted on twice. If the decisions are confirmed at the next meeting of the city council, then Reisser and Boczek resign from their offices on June 24th. By the end of their terms in two years’ time, they would be paid like a retired civil servant.
City Councilor Barbara Boczek (Greens) has been in office since 2017.
© City of Darmstadt
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Spokespersons for the opposition groups criticized statements made by Hildegard Förster-Heldmann, the party and parliamentary group chairman of the Darmstadt Greens, about Boczek, who was elected in 2017 with the votes of the green-black coalition and the then cooperation partner Uffbasse. Boczek “does not have the requirement profile to fulfill the abundance of tasks of a newly formed department with expanded and even more complex responsibilities”.
The SPD chairman Tim Huss described the formulation and the dealings with Boczek, who as a city councilor had definitely appeared as a “designer of change”, as “bad style”. Helmut Klett, the chairman of the Uwiga / WGD parliamentary group, even recommended Förster-Heldmann to resign.
Förster-Heldmann countered that Boczek had “been part of the team for a long time”. Now, however, it is important to establish a “strong, competent magistrate”. Boczek’s dismissal is therefore necessary.
CDU parliamentary group leader Roland Desch said the two dismissal requests were “not comparable”. Reisser deserves “the greatest thanks and appreciation for his work” over the past ten years. The Greens have the right to propose the successor to Reisser.
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