Wahl in Greifswald: Vorpommern’s famous doormat is now a museum piece

It’s dusty and looks worn out. Seven years ago, immediately after the runoff election for the office of Mayor of Greifswald, the whole of Germany was talking about this reddish-brown doormat. The winner of the election, Stefan Fassbinder (Greens), who had won with just 15 votes against the opposing candidate Jörg Hochheim from the CDU and had previously worked as a historian in the Pomeranian State Museum, had the legendary mat brought to the museum depot. Germany’s most famous doormat has not yet been exhibited.

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election scandal seven years ago

In May 2015, residents were asked to choose between the two candidates for the highest office in the town hall. The doormat in question had been placed in front of one of the numerous polling stations in such a way that it held open one of the doors leading to the ballot box. Eventually the floor flap slipped and the door stayed locked for about 90 minutes.

After the election, an objection was received from a citizen who, because of the locked door, later went to the polling station a second time to vote. So it could not be ruled out that several voters did not cast their votes during the hour and a half because they were standing in front of a locked door.

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The mat dispute went to court

The election examination committee had initially dealt with the election glitch. Later, the citizenry declared the election valid, but the story did not end there.

The farce about a slipped doormat continued to be a topic of conversation nationwide. Because the opponent candidate Hochheim, who was extremely inferior, insisted on a new ballot and complained about the close election result. In January 2016 he lost before the Greifswald administrative court.

The court countered the accusation of doormats by saying that the legislature saw voters as “responsible and committed active citizens” who would not be dissuaded from their project immediately if a door of the polling station was locked: “Especially since it was really just that ‘ the judge said: ‘The polling station was clearly identifiable as such and there was a second entrance.’ The slipped doormat does not justify having the election repeated. CDU man Hochheim finally accepted the verdict.

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What will become of the mat now?

Since then, the seized object of dispute has been under lock and key. There are currently no concrete exhibition plans for the doormat, says museum spokeswoman Julia Kruse. The permanent exhibition on Pomeranian history only lasts until 2007, when Poland joined the Schengen Agreement. The doormat will also not play a role in the currently planned special exhibitions. “But I don’t want to rule out that there could be a special exhibition with the mat at some point.”

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