NRW election: 4000 people voted for a politician who does not want to be in the state parliament

Created: 05/15/2022Updated: 05/15/2022, 23:51

By: Max Mueller

Ursula Heinen Esser will no longer sit in the Düsseldorf state parliament.

© Marius Becker/dpa

A politician had already announced before the NRW election that she would not accept a possible mandate.

4000 people voted for her anyway.

Cologne – Her name was on the ballot, but Ursula Heinen-Esser (CDU) made it clear even before the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia that she would not want to exercise her mandate if she won.

Heinen-Esser ran in the constituency of Cologne VI (Cologne city center and Cologne-Kalk), and she is sixth on the CDU state list. But it was too late to back out.

The ballot papers were already ready, the deadline had expired - so Heinen-Esser ultimately had to remain a candidate, as reported by 24RHEIN.

State elections in North Rhine-Westphalia: Ursula Heinen-Esser is elected by 4,000 people in Cologne

Thus, Heinen-Esser was still eligible.

Whether by mistake or with complete conviction: 4,000 people in Cologne voted for the former NRW Environment Minister on election Sunday with their first vote.

That corresponds to 15 percent of all votes.

Heinen-Esser thus achieved third place.

The direct mandate went to Green MP Berivan Aymaz, with SPD candidate Florian Schuster coming in second.

The background to the withdrawal: Heinen-Esser is at the center of the so-called "Mallorca affair".

What happened?

While 49 people lost their lives in North Rhine-Westphalia in the summer of 2021, the minister was in Mallorca.

She returned briefly, then flew back to the island to celebrate her husband's birthday.

Ina Scharrenbach (NRW Minister of Home Affairs), Stephan Holthoff-Pförtner (NRW Minister for Europe) and Serap Güler (Member of the Bundestag, all CDU) were also present at this celebration.

Ursula Heinen-Esser drew conclusions before the NRW election

In the processing, Heinen-Esser became entangled in contradictions.

The information was first served bit by bit, important details only came to light through media reports.

The pressure on the 56-year-old was extremely high.

With her resignation on April 7, she drew the consequences.