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Stuttgart's mayor is sworn in

2022-01-20T05:55:08.664Z


Stuttgart's mayor is sworn in Created: 2022-01-20Updated: 2022-01-20 06:46 Frank Nopper (CDU) takes part in a special session of an internal committee. © Marijan Murat/dpa/archive image More than a year ago, Frank Nopper was elected the new mayor of Stuttgart, and now the CDU politician can finally vote and wear the chain of office. A mayor on hold - this is not an isolated case in Baden-Württe


Stuttgart's mayor is sworn in

Created: 2022-01-20Updated: 2022-01-20 06:46

Frank Nopper (CDU) takes part in a special session of an internal committee.

© Marijan Murat/dpa/archive image

More than a year ago, Frank Nopper was elected the new mayor of Stuttgart, and now the CDU politician can finally vote and wear the chain of office.

A mayor on hold - this is not an isolated case in Baden-Württemberg.

Stuttgart – Martin Horn counted. 303 days had to pass after his election as mayor of Freiburg before he was allowed to wear the chain of office. It was 248 days after taking office before the mayor could vote in the municipal council like any other elected member. The lawsuits against his election victory had initially brought him the title of "administrator", a head of town hall on hold who can govern but has no voting rights. Only when the Mannheim Administrative Court had finally rejected the objections to the mayoral election was Horn able to really get going. "It was really a burden, a brake pad," he says today and jokes: "I was just too young and too dynamic to rot."

Frank Nopper could well recognize this feeling. Because he has not yet worn his chain of office as elected Mayor of Stuttgart almost 14 months after his election at the end of November 2020. Because of several lawsuits and objections to the election results, he initially had to hold office as an “administrator” and thus without voting rights. At the beginning of January, the deadline for the last plaintiff to take legal action against his defeat expired. Now the CDU politician, who has been in charge of the city's fortunes for many months, will be officially sworn in by the municipal council today.

The reason for the delay is, on the one hand, the municipal code, which defines the possibility of an administrator. As a rule, this is the winner of the election, who can then hold office for a maximum of two years without having to wait for a decision by the judiciary. Horn, Nopper and numerous other municipal and city leaders thus possessed almost all the rights and duties of a mayor - but only almost all. "In my first nine months as mayor, I wasn't able to vote in a single vote," says the non-party local politician. “But I was elected to take a clear position. And without a democratic right to vote, something is simply missing.”

On the other hand, election winners are slowed down on the way to taking the oath of office by objections and lawsuits from fun applicants and other permanent candidates.

Helmut Palmer, who became known as the “Remstal rebel” and died in 2004, holds the record in Baden-Württemberg.

The father of the incumbent Mayor of Tübingen, Boris Palmer (Greens), ran for more than 300 mayoral and deputy elections, some of them very successfully, although not victorious.

A woman from Sindelfingen, who ran in more than 110 elections without a chance, is considered Germany's most restless candidate for mayor.

She repeatedly challenged the result, including in Freiburg and Stuttgart.

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The candidate déjà vu has long been a thorn in the side of the City Day.

He certainly sees opportunities to set up hurdles on the way to City Hall without encroaching more deeply on democratic rights.

For example, in municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants, candidates must present at least 50 signatures from eligible voters in order to be admitted.

In smaller communities this is not the case.

"But that could deter fun candidates there," says Norbert Brugger from the municipal umbrella association.

In addition, deputies should also govern like mayors or mayors, so they should also be allowed to vote.

"For those affected, this is psychologically serious," says Brugger.

"They're just not quite OB at the moment."

He does not see a major risk in taking office early. The election control authorities are very careful, and an election is rarely overturned after a judicial review. Therefore, according to Bruggers, the city council wants to approach the green-black state government again with its proposals for a change in local electoral law.

The Association of Baden-Württemberg Mayors has long been demanding a certain number of signatures for a place on the candidate carousel.

"The undesirable developments in individual municipalities, where more than 30 applicants have appeared, the majority of whom have justified doubts about their seriousness, must be prevented with this proven regulation," says the association president, Ditzingen's non-party mayor Michael Makurath.

It is important to improve the application process in the competition for the best minds in the town halls.

dpa

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-01-20

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