Ulm/Rheinstetten (dpa) – Major day of fighting in the town halls and polling stations of four southwest municipalities: In the cities Ulm, Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Herrenberg and Rheinstetten There are mayoral elections on Sunday. The polling stations are open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. If none of the candidates in the city in which they are running receives more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round, a runoff election usually takes place two weeks later.
In Ulm Around 94,000 people are entitled to vote to elect their mayor. For incumbent Gunter Czisch (CDU), it is about the second term in office. He is being challenged, among others, by the Green Party state chairwoman Lena Schwelling and the lawyer Martin Ansbacher (SPD). All three live in Ulm. Czisch has been mayor of the Danube city with almost 127,000 inhabitants since 2016. He was previously mayor of finance there. In the last mayoral election, he succeeded Ivo Gönner (SPD), who vacated the town hall seat after around 24 years. Two independent candidates, Daniel Langhans and Thomas Treutler, have also thrown their hat into the ring.
In Leinfelden-Echterdingen (Esslingen district), five men and one woman are fighting for the executive chair in the town hall on Sunday: the mayor of Köngen (Esslingen district), Otto Ruppaner, who was born in 1982 and is supported by the Free Voters. Also up for election are 38-year-old city councilor David Armbruster, who is supported by the Greens, and ministerial councilor Raiko Grieb (45). Grieb is a member of the SPD and is supported by the SPD, but according to his own words, he is running as an independent candidate.
Also standing for election are management consultant Martin Weiß (independent), Peter Stahl (46), who works in product development, and 50-year-old Birgit Mertens (independent). Mertens is currently mayor of Niefern-Öschelbronn (Enzkreis). The 71-year-old incumbent Roland Klenk (CDU) is no longer running. Around 31,000 citizens are called to vote.
In Herrenberg (Böblingen district) around 25,500 people are allowed to vote. Three men and one woman have thrown their hat into the ring for the office: 32-year-old administrative economist Nico Reith, 52-year-old vehicle painter Hubert Reichardt, entrepreneur Thomas Werner and Diana Kobrow (43). All candidates are independent, as a city spokeswoman said. Incumbent Thomas Sprißler (57/Free Voters) is no longer running after two terms in office.
In Rheinstetten (Karlsruhe district), two candidates, incumbent Sebastian Schrempp (CDU) and SPD member Isabella Metzke, will be in the race for the mayor’s office on Sunday. The 29-year-old Metzke is running as an independent candidate. Schrempp, 45 years old, was elected mayor of the city in 2007 – as the youngest mayor in the southwest at the time. Around 17,000 citizens are eligible to vote.
Mayoral elections in Baden-Württemberg usually take place independently of the election of the local council. Only in independent cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants – called urban districts – and so-called large district towns with more than 20,000 inhabitants are the town hall bosses referred to as mayors.
2023-12-03 15:31:02
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