Runoff election in Munich: Exciting trend is emerging - an important note for late-deciders

The OB election in Munich is decided in the runoff election. Can Kristina surprise Frank again? All developments in the live ticker.

• There was no absolute majority for a candidate in the Munich 2020 OB election .
• Dieter Reiter (SPD) must now run against Kristina Frank (CSU) in the runoff election .
• Due to the Corona crisis , voting was only allowed by postal vote * .

5:01 p.m .: The first tendencies towards the result of the eagerly awaited runoff are expected to be available from 8:30 p.m. Regarding the further procedure, the city of Munich explains: “The counting will be interrupted at 10 p.m. on Sunday evening at the latest. On Monday, March 30th, the counting will continue from 8 a.m. ”

The electorate now only has one hour to properly submit their postal ballot papers. We have summarized where this is still possible until 6 p.m. in a large overview.

Runoff election in Munich: OB Reiter remains a favorite - many citizens use a special service

16:38: The KVR mailboxes are also "busy". No queues formed there, but the citizens would come every minute, a spokesman said.

The number of applications for replacement because citizens did not receive their documents in time by post was also limited. "You can see that from the high response rate," the spokesman said.

No problems are expected with the counting - there are enough election workers who will count the letters from 6 p.m. However, since various security measures have been taken due to the corona pandemic , a final result is not expected until Monday.

3:42 pm: The postal vote seems to have a positive effect on the turnout. Already on March 15, the many postal voters had led to a particularly high turnout. The runoff election for the Lord Mayor's Office in Munich could now set a new record. By noon, more than 600,000 election documents should have been received by the district administration department.

Wow: According to the KVR #Munich, record participation in #stichwahl around Munich OB items is already emerging: by midday more than 600,000 (!) Postal voting documents have been received. With 1.1 eligible voters, that's more than 50% participation, a #corona factor? @ BR24

1:19 p.m .: The OB runoff election in Munich is a historic one. Because the coronavirus pandemic poses an unprecedented risk of gatherings. For the first time in the history of the Federal Republic - and perhaps even for the first time ever, for a run-off election for a mayor's office, votes are cast exclusively by postal vote. Nevertheless, the votes must be cast by 6pm on Sunday evening, March 29th.

If you have not yet been able to send your postal voting documents by post, you can still cast your vote in Munich at so-called special mailboxes or special delivery points *.

OB election in Munich: the runoff election has to decide - Dieter Reiter or Kristina Frank?

10:26: On the day of the 2020 runoff election for the post of Mayor in Munich, a lot comes together. It is the first choice in the history of the city, which takes place as a pure postal vote. Due to the curfew imposed due to the Corona crisis , the streets remain largely empty and the polling stations closed. It remains to be seen how the postal vote experiment will affect voter turnout and whether the corona crisis will have unexpected effects on the election.

Update of March 29, 2020, 8:14 a.m .: In Bavaria , the run-off elections will take place two weeks after the actual local election . Because of the corona crisis , the eligible municipalities can only vote for the first time by postal vote. There are run-off elections in the five largest Bavarian cities of Munich , Nuremberg, Augsburg, Regensburg and Ingolstadt.

Since the Mayor of Munich, Dieter Reiter (SPD ), was clearly ahead with around 48 percent in the first round, he can hope in round two for a success in the Bavarian capital against the CSU candidate Kristina Frank . There are run-off elections for 16 mayor and 18 district council posts, and there is also a large number of mayoral elections.

Runoff election in Munich: Who will be OB - Dieter Reiter or Kristina Frank?

First report from March 28, 2020:

Munich - Not much was missing, but it wasn't quite enough: Munich's Mayor (OB) Dieter Reiter (SPD) won 47.9 percent of the votes cast in the OB election on March 15. This means that he has to go to a runoff * on March 29 with his competitor Kristina Frank (CSU) . The OB candidate came to 21.3 percent . The Greens candidate Katrin Habenschaden narrowly missed the runoff vote - at 20.5 percent , she was very close to Frank. This was a surprise, because according to surveys, damage to property was considered the candidate with the greater chance of forcing Dieter Reiter into the runoff.

Whether Reiter or Frank emerged victorious from the runoff election would also have an impact on possible coalitions in Munich City Hall - especially since the newly elected City Council * has so many new members.

Check out this post on Instagram

Dear Munich, thank you very much for your great trust! #dieterreiter # communal election2020 # reiter2020 # munich #muenchenliebe #munich

A post shared by Dieter Reiter (@ dieter_reiter_089) on Mar 16, 2020 at 2:49 pm PDT

OB election in the shadow of the Corona crisis - turnout was 49 percent

Despite the Corona crisis * , 544,489 people took part in the election, which is a turnout of 49 percent - almost nine percentage points higher than in the local elections six years ago. Merkur.de * has prepared the Bavarian results of the OB elections in an interactive map * . This background article on the data project * explains how Merkur.de * collects and processes the data in the Bavaria 2020 local elections .

Check out this post on Instagram

THANK YOU! I would like to thank my voters for the trust they have placed in me. I would also like to thank the election workers who made this election possible for our city in a difficult situation. And it is a matter close to my heart to thank my team and all supporters. All of this would be unthinkable without you! I would also like to express my respect to my opponents Dieter Reiter and Katrin Habenschaden for a fair election campaign. Now it's my turn in the runoff. My party and I will continue to fight for responsible policies in the next few days. More than ever, Munich needs a sense of proportion, reliability, balance and togetherness. #kristinatrittan # Lord Mayor # Munich

A post shared by Kristina Frank (@ kristina.munich) on Mar 15, 2020 at 2:07 pm PDT

These are the results of all candidates * who participated in the OB election 2020 in Munich from the first ballot on March 15:

Runoff election between Reiter (SPD) and Frank (CSU) - due to corona crisis with special regulation

There were municipal elections in a state of emergency - due to the corona crisis * Bavaria-wide special rules now apply to the run-off elections *. Many election workers reported sick, which is why teachers were required to act as election workers at short notice - a decision that Dieter Reiter also brought in harsh criticism *. Basically, there was a fierce debate * as to whether these local elections should have been held despite the spread of the novel corona virus *.

Video: Voters cancel - officials are committed

As part of the 2020 local elections, there will also be run-off elections in the Würmtal *, Wolfratshausen and Icking * and in the counties of Munich *, Freising *, Bad-Tölz *, Weilheim-Schongau *, Garmisch *, Miesbach *, Starnberg *, Fürstenfeldbruck * on Sunday , Dachau *, Ebersberg * and Erding *.

* Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network.

List of rubric lists: © dpa / Sven Hoppe