Belit Onay stands in the pedestrian zone in front of the Hanover main station and makes election campaign. The mayor's candidate advertises in conversation with two passers-by for the car-free inner city. He wants to make the old town more attractive. Onay, short-cropped hair, tall and slim, can talk very extensively about traffic in Hannover.
Among other things, the 38-year-old calls for a "mobility guarantee" and a 365-euro annual ticket for bus and train. "I think that's great," says a passer-by. A young family goes by, Onay wants to give them a flyer. They wave off. "We have already made our cross with you," says the man.
The first exciting election campaign in decades
Hanover will elect a new Lord Mayor on Sunday. It is the first exciting election campaign for decades in the state capital of Lower Saxony. Actually, Hannover is an SPD stronghold, one of the last remaining. For 63 years, the city has been governed by Social Democracy, for 34 years Herbert Schmalstieg was the city father, from 1972 to 2006. Then Stephan Weil, now Prime Minister, his successor, he remained until 2013. He was followed by Stefan Schostok, who took office last year April on charges of breach of allegation. (Read the history of the 'Rathaus Affair' here).
Now, for the first time, the CDU and Greens have real opportunities to replace the comrades. For the SPD, that would be very high-spirited. The "Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung" ("HAZ") published a poll a week before the election: The non-party candidate of the CDU, Eckhard Scholz, called "Ecki", would thus come to 28 percent of the vote, Onay to 26 percent, SPD candidate Marc Hansmann on 23 percent of the vote. However, according to this survey, 39 percent of voters are undecided.
Almost certainly, it can already be said that Sunday will be a runoff election in Hannover. Onay would compete against the CDU candidate Scholz, he had good prospects for the victory. Many leftist voters could then opt for him. For the SPD, this scenario would be a disaster, even for Stephan Weil. The Prime Minister spoke out early for his comrade Hansmann.
Hansmann says that the starting conditions for the SPD have been as bad as ever: the town hall affair, the weakness of his party's federal politics, all dark shadows. From 2007 to 2017, the now 49-year-old chamberlain was the city, but left the city hall two years ago, because he, as it writes the "FAZ", no longer wanted to work under Schostok. Nevertheless, Hansmann belongs to the SPD establishment, and that could be a disadvantage in the election now.
First mayor of a provincial capital with Turkish roots
For the Greens, on the other hand, the starting point is better than ever before: nationwide high-altitude flights, the "Fridays for Future" demonstrations, the ubiquitous task of improving climate protection, all favorable conditions. In the European elections, the Greens in Hanover reached 31.1 percent of the vote, which they were about ten percentage points before the CDU and Greens.
The two pedestrians, with whom Onay spoke in the pedestrian zone, he could obviously convince. The man has already decided that he wants to vote for the Greens, and the woman says she is 95 percent sure, and adds: "I would love it if we had a mayor with a migration background in Hanover".
In fact, Onays choice would not only be a historic event for Hannover, but for all of Germany. He would be the first Lord Mayor of a state capital, which comes from a Turkish family.
Onays parents owned a restaurant in Goslar, they once came from Istanbul to Germany. As a teenager, he did not get into the local disco because the bouncer said: No blackheads today.
Onay was politicized by the arson attack in Solingen in 1993, in which right-wing extremists killed five people. His parents had considered then to return to Turkey. "But for me it would not have been a return, but a departure from my homeland, I was born here, raised here," he says. They were afraid at the time, but the solidarity of the people who formed street lights against racism, among other things, meant a lot to him.
After that, he says, over time he has grown aware of how important it is for young people to get involved politically and for people with a migrant background to shape the city and the society in which they live. In 2008, after the state law exam, Onay joined the Greens. In 2011 he was elected to the City Council of Hanover, 2013 in the Lower Saxony state parliament. Hannover, says Onay, is the most beautiful city in Germany.
Fair election campaign between CDU, Greens and SPD
On a Saturday in October, a good week before the election, the "HAZ" organizes a "political lunch break" at the World Expo in front of the "Mäntelhaus" department store. The four candidates for the mayor's election have four minutes to introduce themselves. Among others, Joachim Wundrak, three-star general, candidate of the AfD and former CDU member.
When Wundrak comes on stage, a loud whistle concert greets him. "Get out of here", chant some Hanoverians, who actually look very middle-class. One gets away with it: "Nazi!" He shouts. Then Wundrak begins a sentence with "As Lord Mayor of Hanover ... ..." and reaps sneering laughter. "God forbid," commented Belit Onay.
In the election campaign between the three promising candidates, however, it is all about factual issues, says Onay. And that's how the four minutes from him, Hansmann and Scholz sound. Everyone wants to promote less traffic in the city center and housing - depending on the political pattern with different weighting. A third topic is everyone's self: Onay wants to get involved in social participation, Hansmann wants to make the city child-friendly, Scholz appeals to the sense of security of the Hanoverians. Everything very factual, everything very solid.
The election campaign is very intense, but also very respectful, says CDU candidate Scholz. The 56-year-old - a type of jovial manager - led the commercial vehicle division of VW until 2018. Even in moderate habitus, the candidates are very similar, they seem down to earth, rather calm, polemics seems alien to them. A bit like the city whose chief they want to become.
Onay wants to be approachable
After the "political lunch break" Belit Onay pauses for a break at the coffee house "Holländische Kakao-Stube" near the central Kröpcke-Platz, it was opened 124 years ago. There is good cake with a lot of cream and delicious hot chocolate. If the old Federal Republic was a café, it would look.
An older lady looks at Onay longer. Then she nods to him: "Good luck!". Something like that, says the mayoral candidate, is happening more often now. He is frequently addressed on the way. That's why he no longer wears headphones in the subway and suburban trains, he says. He wants to be approachable.
If he still drives normal when he becomes mayor? "Sure," says Onay.
