On February 2, citizens in Leipzig elect a new mayor. The first figures point to a narrow outcome - a tradition that is decades old could come to an end.
- Around 470,000 Leipzig residents can elect their mayor for the next seven years from 8 a.m. on Sunday .
- Incumbent Burkhard Jung (SPD) was horrified by the outbreak of violence at a demonstration in the Saxon city a few days before the election.
- You can read all the latest news about the OB election in Leipzig in this ticker.
Update 9:55 p.m .: After the surprising outcome of the first ballot in the Mayor's election in Leipzig , the two favorites showed themselves ready to fight. "I am pleased about the trust that the voters have placed in me," said CDU candidate Sebastian Gemkow . "But I'm also going into the coming weeks with humility and I want to convince as many people in Leipzig as possible that I have good ideas for the city."
Incumbent Burkhard Jung (SPD) immediately ushered in the further election campaign. "Now it's about the sausage," he called to his followers. The result was not surprising. "I expected exactly that. This duel that is now in sight - that's the city, ”said the mayor.
A few days ago Jung had sounded a little different. When asked whether he saw his post at risk, said SPD politician
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: "Honestly, I can't imagine that in the cradle of social democracy."
OB election in Leipzig: preliminary result is available - incumbent under pressure, AfD remains single-digit
Update 8:21 pm: Now there are new figures from Leipzig : According to the preliminary result , incumbent Burkhard Jung (SPD) received 29.8 percent of the vote. He was just behind his worst rival, CDU politician Sebastian Gemkow , who came to 31.6 percent.
This means that a second ballot is necessary on March 1, in which the simple majority is sufficient. However, there is no runoff election - instead, all candidates can run again. Much will therefore depend on what the other of the eight applicants for the mayor post do now.
The Left Party applicant , Franziska Riekewald, came in third place on Sunday with 13.5 percent. Katharina Krefft of the Greens achieved twelve percent, and Christoph Neumann of the AfD only got a one-digit result with 8.7 percent of the vote. Marcus Viefeld of the FDP, Katharina Subat of The Party and Ute Elisabeth Gabelmann of the Pirate Party ended up in last place. Should Riekewald and Krefft go without, this could increase Jung's chances considerably.
Jung has been the head of the town hall in Leipzig since 2006. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the mayor of Saxony's largest city has always been in charge - politicians Hinrich Lehmann-Grube (1990-1998), Wolfgang Tiefensee (1998-2005) and provisional Andreas Müller (2005/2006) before Jung.
Mayor's quake in Leipzig? The first numbers show head-to-head races
Update 8:00 p.m .: According to the first partial results of the OB election in Leipzig , none of the candidates achieved the required absolute majority in the first ballot. Incumbent Burkhard Jung (SPD) got just under 30 percent of the votes on Sunday after counting the majority of the electoral districts and thus had a head-to-head race with his CDU challenger Sebastian Gemkow . The incumbent Saxon science minister was around 31 percent.
A second ballot is therefore necessary on March 1st. Then the simple majority is enough to win the mayor election. The previous candidates can start again. A total of eight candidates took part in the election in Leipzig on Sunday. In addition to the SPD and CDU, the Left, Greens, AfD, FDP, The Party and the Pirate Party sent applicants into the race. According to a report by the Leipziger Volkszeitung, Jung wants to start again despite the apparent apparent defeat.
Election in Leipzig: OB horrified by recent outbreaks of violence in the city
Leipzig - In the run-up to the OB election in Leipzig , there were violent riots during a demonstration against the ban on the online blog "linksunten.Indymedia". The protest event took place on January 25, just eight days before the OB election. Leipzig's current mayor Burkhard Jung (SPD), who is running for the third time in this year's election, was now horrified by the outbreak of violence. " What's going on in people who hate so much? They rage against everything, everything we stand for every day: against respect, against democracy and consideration and tolerance, ”said the politician after the riots at the demo.
OB election in Leipzig: There were repeated outbreaks of violence in the city
But the recent outbreak of violence is not the only incident of this kind. The most recent violence in the city has been attributed to left-wing extremists . So there were a number of arson attacks on construction sites in 2019, then a New Year's Eve party at Connewitzer Kreuz went completely out of control and now firecrackers and stones flew at the demonstration last Saturday.
A “ criminal group ” had used the right to peaceful demonstration and freedom of expression unrestrainedly and violently on Saturday evening. "There can only be one answer to these criminals: a strong state," emphasized Jung.
His clear statement on the latest incidents is also part of Jung's election campaign . The 61-year-old also runs it on Twitter - but in a completely different way. There, the SPD Leipzig published a video the day before the election, in which Jung focuses primarily on positive developments in Leipzig.
#Leipzig elects its mayor on Sunday. @Burkhard_Jung made two promises for the future and kept their word. The city has developed splendidly. Put your trust in him so that Leipzig will be the most liveable city in Germany. # Jung2020 # obmle20 pic.twitter.com/GihedBVxCt
- SPD Leipzig (@SPDLeipzig) February 1, 2020OB election in Leipzig: Burkhard Jung expresses allegations against the state government
Only at the beginning of January did the SPD man accuse the Saxon state government that there were too few police officers in Leipzig , reports sächsische.de . It was "systematically too little police on the street," said Jung at a first large forum of all candidates in the run-up to the mayoral election. There are far fewer civil servants in the city today than five years ago, even though Leipzig has had 56,000 more inhabitants since then. In the past, the Free State had contributed to a lack of security with its strict austerity policy .
In the election on Sunday, in addition to incumbent Jung, Katharina Krefft for the Greens , Franziska Riekewald for the Left and Marcus Viefeld for the FDP . The non-partisan candidate Ute Elisabeth Gabelmann and Christoph Neumann are in the running for the AfD . However, CDU politician Sebastian Gemkow , who is also Saxony's Minister of State for Science, is considered Jung's strongest competitor . If none of the candidates prevails in the first ballot , a runoff election should take place on March 1st .
