Enlarge image
Done again: Palmer was elected in Tübingen for the third time
Photo: Christoph Soeder/ DPA
The new is the old: Boris Palmer has been re-elected mayor of Tübingen.
He prevailed against his competitors with an absolute majority of 52.4 votes, as the city announced on Sunday evening after all polling stations had been counted.
Palmer ran as an independent candidate rather than for the Greens because of trouble with his party.
His competitor Ulrike Baumgärtner (Greens) got 22 percent of the votes, Sofie Geisel (SPD, supported by the FDP) 21.4 percent of the votes.
Around 69,000 Tübingen residents were eligible to vote.
Six candidates were admitted.
Palmer has been mayor for 16 years.
He had declared in advance that he no longer wanted to compete in the second ballot if he was not ahead in the first round.
"If I can't win this election, the political figure Boris Palmer will be at an end," the "Pforzheimer Zeitung" quoted him as saying.
More soon at SPIEGEL.de
kik/dpa