Mayoral election in Eichenau becomes a thriller

Created: 2022-06-26Updated: 2022-06-26 10:28 PM

Always smiling: The candidates (from left) Hausberger, Münster and Zeiler while waiting for the result.

© Peter Weber

It was incredibly exciting right up to the end: Although the incumbent Mayor of Eichenau, Peter Münster (FDP), quickly left his opponents behind, in the end it was just not enough to achieve the necessary majority.

Eichenau

– The first results of the mayoral election were there after half an hour.

The yellow bar slipped very quickly and suspiciously close to the all-important 50 percent mark.

The incumbent, FDP Mayor Peter Münster, had every right to hope that he would not even have to go to the runoff.

"There are still 0.33 points missing," Münster said confidently in the town hall, where the candidates were waiting for the results.

But then it got tough.

Münster updated its smartphone every minute.

But the yellow bar didn't want to slip over the important mark.

In the end, the Liberal was just 21 votes short.

He took it sporty, the situation is not new to him.

Six years ago, he was only elected the new mayor of Eichenau in the run-off election, the only FDP head of town hall in the district.

“Now the marathon will be ten kilometers longer.

I will definitely have the condition for it.”

However, the Sunday thriller will continue this Monday.

From the town hall it is said that it will probably be recounted again.

It is also about 19 invalid votes.

However, Münster explained in his capacity as the highest office manager: It cannot be assumed that all of these votes will then be considered valid and can also be assigned to a single candidate.

Election in Eichenau: CSU candidate bitterly disappointed

So it looks very much like a runoff.

Münster will then face Markus Hausberger of the Greens on July 10, who with 28.38 percent of the votes just undershot his party's result in the 2020 local elections.

But Hausberger could see things more calmly.

“I competed for the first time.

That's why it's a great success to get into the run-off election.” He respectfully acknowledges that the gap to Münster is considerable at over 21 percent.

"But every gap can be closed."

Voices from the camp of the defeated CSU candidate Peter Zeiler are unlikely.

At least that's how Zeiler sees it himself.

This one was definitely broken.

"You have to swallow it first." In the election crime thriller, he now only has the role of the spectator.

"I imagined a little more," admits Zeiler.

At least he would have wanted to get into the runoff.

But: "We fought well," said Zeiler, also representing the local CSU.

It's just difficult to come up against a well-established politician like Peter Münster.

This will probably enjoy the support of the Free Voters (FW).

That can at least be concluded from the personal opinion of FW councilor Claus Guttenthaler.

For the SPD, Gertrud Merkert announced that she would continue to support Hausberger.

Voter turnout is likely to be a key factor.

This time fewer Eichenauer went to the polls than in 2016. At 54.11 percent, participation in this first round was almost two percent below the last.

The preliminary results can be read in the live ticker.