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Thomas Westphal is the new Lord Mayor of Dortmund
Photo: Friedrich Stark / imago images / Friedrich Stark
Success for the SPD and CDU: In the mayor's runoff elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, both parties have won a victory in the most competitive cities.
While the SPD was defending the city of Dortmund, which was important to them, the CDU took back the town hall in Düsseldorf.
The Christian Democrats are now again providing the mayor of the capital of a large German state.
The CDU candidates also won in Oberhausen and Münster.
In
Dortmund
, the SPD candidate Thomas Westphal won with 52 percent of the vote.
The duel in the largest city in the Ruhr area had been followed with tension: The CDU man Andreas Hollstein was around ten percentage points behind Westphal in the first ballot.
But the Greens clearly strengthened in Dortmund - in the first ballot still with their own candidate - had given an election recommendation for Hollstein for this Sunday.
The party justified this with its wish for a change of policy in the town hall.
Since 1946, the SPD has permanently appointed the mayor of the so-called "Chamber of the Heart of Social Democracy".
In
Düsseldorf
, the CDU politician Stephan Keller won the runoff election against incumbent Thomas Geisel from the SPD.
The 50-year-old city director of Cologne was after counting 438 of the 454 voting districts on Sunday evening, almost 55.4 percent.
Hostage came to 44.6 percent.
He admitted defeat and congratulated his challenger.
Six years after the takeover by the SPD, the mayor's office in the North Rhine-Westphalian state capital is now back in CDU hands.
Reker performs in Cologne
In the only North Rhine-Westphalian metropolis of
Cologne
, the incumbent incumbent Henriette Reker, after counting more than half of the votes, led her SPD challenger Andreas Kossiski.
Reker was supported in the election campaign by the Greens and the CDU.
Green politician Uwe Schneidewind was elected as the new Lord Mayor of
Wuppertal
.
The 54-year-old joint candidate from the Greens and CDU prevailed against incumbent Andreas Mucke (SPD) with 53.5 percent of the vote.
The CDU recorded further successes in the Ruhr area town of
Oberhausen
and in the Westphalian city of Münster: Oberhausen's Lord Mayor Daniel Schranz received 62.1 percent of the vote, his challenger Thorsten Berg (SPD) only 37.9 percent.
Oberhausen was a stronghold of the SPD for decades.
The student city of
Münster
is also still governed by a CDU politician: Markus Lewe (CDU) won the runoff election with 52.6 percent of the votes against the Green candidate Peter Todeskino.
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ptz / dpa
