As of: February 25, 2024, 8:23 p.m
By: Bert Brosch
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Christian Zenner congratulates Stephan Keck on his election victory.
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On Sunday, the citizens of Kirchheim elected a new mayor.
Stephan Keck (SPD) clearly prevailed against Christian Zenner (Greens).
Kirchheim – As expected, the people of Kirchheim clearly elected Stephan Keck (SPD) as the new mayor with 83.5 percent of the vote.
Voter turnout was only 51.9 percent.
It is possible that some potential CSU voters would rather not vote at all than vote for a Social Democrat.
Mayoral election in Kirchheim: Stephan Keck (SPD) is beaming, Christian Zenner (Greens) is disappointed
“In view of the great popularity in the past few weeks, I expected this result,” said a beaming Stephan Keck after his predecessor Maximilian Böltl (CSU) announced the first preliminary result and Keck hugged his wife warmly.
Christian Zenner, challenger for the Greens, was disappointed, but a fair loser: “I expected significantly more than 16.5 percent.
It wasn't realistic to believe that I could do it the first time, but for me it was an important democratic process that there wasn't just one name on the ballot paper." In absolute numbers, Keck received 4,323 votes and Zenner 851.
Keck announced non-partisan cooperation in the local council.
“Above all, there has to be a different tone than before - because we have a lot of work ahead of us.” He is not planning to combine the next mayoral election with the local elections in two years, said Keck.
“It starts at full throttle on Tuesday!” Maximilian Böltl also congratulated Keck and said: “For me this is a great personal success.
With Stephan Keck things continue to move forward.”
Election necessary because predecessor Maximilian Böltl (CSU) entered the state parliament last year
The mayoral election was necessary now because Maximilian Böltl (CSU), who was elected for another term in March 2020 with 74.9 percent of the vote, was elected to the state parliament for the Munich-Nord district in October 2023.
Therefore, his deputy Keck has been acting as interim mayor since October, and he was also proposed by Böltl as his successor.
Keck's motto was: “I like people,” and he always stayed true to that.
The topics with which he scored points were local development, promotion of discounted apartments for people with lower incomes, the construction of modern buildings for care facilities for children and seniors, a town hall with a community hall and the large local park with a park lake as well as the state horticultural show in 2024. For the In the coming years, the rule is not “always new and further”, but rather one must “protect the old stock and first digest the many new residents: in schools, daycare centers, clubs, the infrastructure.”
Christian Zenner has been a member of the local council since 2020 and was supported in the election by his own green party and the VFW.
He relied on younger voters and families.
In view of the community's tense financial situation, an important topic for him was saving, as well as "youth" with more meeting places and a second street worker, as well as shopping opportunities and meeting points for seniors nearby.