Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) was shouted down during an election campaign appearance in Falkensee Photo: Michael Sauerbier
By Michael Sauerbier
Shock for SPD and Greens! In the mayoral election in the red-green town of Falkensee (45,000 inhabitants), their applicants didn’t even get into the runoff on Sunday. A non-party ex-tavern and the CDU candidate got the most votes.
Before the election, Red-Green was still sure of victory: For 33 years, SPD mayors have ruled in the town hall of the dormitory on the outskirts of Berlin, the Greens are the strongest party in the Falkensee city parliament. What could possibly go wrong?
But during their campaign appearances, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) were booed in Falkensee. Although Scholz vigorously countered the angry crowd, it did not help the SPD candidate. With only 9.8 percent, Cornelia Nietsch-Hach came fourth.
Same drama with the Greens. Her applicant Julia Concu only managed third place with 15.4 percent. The FDP (5.6 percent in the city council) did not even stand for the mayoral election. The traffic lights are off in Falkensee for all three government parties!
The clear winner in the first ballot was Heiko Richter (independent), who ran a cult pub in the city center for 20 years. The event technician got 37.4 percent off the bat. CDU candidate Jan Pollmann won second place with 28 percent. Both will compete against each other in the run-off election on July 2nd.