Local elections in Hesse 2011
The local elections in Hesse 2011 took place on March 27, 2011. The Hessian state government had set by Regulation dated 30 April 2010 March 27 as election day.
The state elections in Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate took place at the same time as the local elections . The referendum to include the debt brake in the Hessian state constitution also took place on the same day.
Local councils are elected every five years in Hessen. This includes the election of the district councils, city council assemblies and municipal councils as well as the local councils. The members of the association chamber of the planning association for the Frankfurt / Rhine-Main conurbation are determined indirectly .
In the Main-Kinzig , Main-Taunus and Rheingau-Taunus districts , the district administrators were newly elected. Some mayors, for example in Kassel , Marburg and Darmstadt , were also newly elected.
The previous local elections were held on March 26, 2006 .
Eligible voters
In the Hessian municipal elections in 2011, all citizens of the European Union who had reached the age of 18 on election day and had lived in the municipality for at least three months were entitled to vote. For the local council elections you had to be resident in the local district for at least three months . In addition, one could not be excluded from the right to vote on the basis of civil or criminal court decisions .
All eligible voters who had reached the age of 18 on election day and had lived in the municipality or city for at least six months were eligible. Likewise, they must not have lost their eligibility for election or their ability to hold public office through a judge's verdict.
The election notices were distributed for the first time as A4 sheets and not as postcards, as was previously the case.
A total of 4.6 million citizens were eligible to vote. Of these, almost 51% were women. 89,000 young voters were called to vote for the first time. Of the 4.6 million, just under 5% did not have German citizenship. The Italians made up the largest share of them with a quarter .
Election process
In the local elections, the citizens of Hesse were called upon to redefine the composition of the local bodies. These include district assemblies , city council assemblies or municipal councils and local councils . In 36 Hessian cities and towns that have been town hall chiefs elected in three counties , the district administrators .
The elections took place in free, general, secret, equal and direct elections according to the principles of proportional representation connected with a person election. If only one nomination was accepted, the voting was based on the principles of majority voting. This was only the case in the communities of Nieste in the Kassel district and Sensbachtal in the Odenwald district .
In the elections to the district council, you had as many votes as the district council has seats, as was the case with city councils or local councils and local councils (see tables below). The voters had the opportunity to cumulate their votes (up to three votes per applicant) and also to variegate them in the proportional representation .
The mayor and district council elections were based on majority voting principles.
Composition of the municipal bodies
The size of the communal bodies depends on the number of inhabitants, which the Hessian State Statistical Office announced in September 2010. The respective number of seats is specified in the Hessian district regulation (HKO) and in the Hessian municipality regulation (HGO).
- District meetings
The composition of the district councils is as follows:
| Population of the district | Seats |
|---|---|
| up to 100,000 inhabitants | 51 |
| from 100,001 to 150,000 inhabitants | 61 |
| from 150,001 to 200,000 inhabitants | 71 |
| from 200,001 to 300,000 inhabitants | 81 |
| from 300,001 to 400,000 inhabitants | 87 |
| over 400,000 inhabitants | 93 |
The number of district delegates can be changed to the next lower number with a two-thirds majority of district delegates at the latest one year before the next local election. You can also choose an odd number between the previous and the next lower number. There must be at least 41 members of the district council. The change must be made by the main statute .
There is currently no district council that consists of 93 members. The largest district assemblies are in the Offenbach district and in the Main-Kinzig district , each with 87 members. Normally the district assembly of the Main-Kinzig-Kreis would consist of 93 members, since the Main-Kinzig-Kreis has more than 400,000 inhabitants. In the main statute of the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, the number of members of the district assembly is set at 87.
- City councils / municipal councils
The composition of the city council assemblies or municipal councils is as follows:
| population | Seats |
|---|---|
| up to 3,000 inhabitants | 15th |
| from 3,001 to 5,000 inhabitants | 23 |
| from 5,001 to 10,000 inhabitants | 31 |
| from 10,001 to 25,000 inhabitants | 37 |
| from 25,001 to 50,000 inhabitants | 45 |
| from 50,001 to 100,000 inhabitants | 59 |
| from 100,001 to 250,000 inhabitants | 71 |
| from 250,001 to 500,000 inhabitants | 81 |
| from 500,001 to 1,000,000 inhabitants | 93 |
| over 1,000,000 inhabitants | 105 |
The number of city councilors or community representatives can be changed to the next lower number with a two-thirds majority of city councilors or community representatives at the latest one year before the next local election. You can also choose an odd number between the previous and the next lower number. There must be at least eleven city councilors or community representatives. The change must be made by the main statute.
The largest city council in Hessen is that of the city of Frankfurt am Main . 93 city councilors sit there. 105 city councilors cannot offer a city council assembly, since there is no metropolis in Hesse .
- Local councils
The number of members of a local advisory council is determined by the respective cities or municipalities in their main statutes. It must be between three and nine. If there are more than 8000 inhabitants in the district, there may be up to 19 members.
Parties
A total of 17 parties and 550 groups of voters competed in the 21 rural districts and 426 municipalities . The following parties competed with lists for the district council elections:
| Political party | District council lists | Lists in municipal elections |
|---|---|---|
| Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) | 21st | 411 |
| Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) | 21st | 418 |
| Free Democratic Party (FDP) | 21st | 229 |
| Alliance 90 / The Greens (Greens) | 21st | 227 |
| The left | 18th | 54 |
| Pirate Party Germany (Pirates) | 10 | 10 |
| The Republicans (REP) | 7th | 11 |
| National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) | 3 | 6th |
| Human Environment Animal Welfare Party (Animal Welfare Party ) | 2 | 1 |
| Anarchist Pogo Party of Germany (APPD) | 1 | 1 |
| Different communities of voters | 17th | 364 |
In individual municipalities, the Alliance for Innovation and Justice (BIG, 3 municipalities), the Alliance Graue Panther (AGP, only Frankfurt), the Party for Work, Environment and Family (ON, only Groß-Zimmer ), the Party for Work, Rule of law, animal welfare, elite promotion and grassroots initiative (Die PARTEI, only Frankfurt) and the German Communist Party (DKP, only Reinheim ).
Election programs
The programs of the five parties represented in the state parliament are named here.
- CDU
On February 19, 2011, the Hessian Christian Democrats started the local election campaign with a small party conference in Petersberg, East Hesse . 146 delegates unanimously approved the Courage to Take Responsibility program . The state chairman and Hessian Prime Minister Volker Bouffier said that the CDU stands for family-friendly municipalities.
The program focused on better childcare, education and family-friendly communities. Bouffier also promoted the debt brake, which was held in a referendum on election day.
The Christian Democrats also received support from federal politicians during the election campaign. Chancellor Angela Merkel was in Frankfurt am Main and Hanau on March 19, and then Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (CSU) was in Kelkheim (Taunus) on February 21 .
- SPD
The Hessian SPD adopted its program for local elections at the state party conference on November 27, 2010 in Giessen . One should happily go into the local election campaign, said state chairman Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel . The goal is to become the strongest force in Hessen again. They want to provide mayors, mayors and district administrators.
Hessen GERECHT was the name of the goals that the party congress had adopted for communal work. It was mainly about better access to educational institutions, work for all, integration and a sustainable economy.
On January 23, 2011, the SPD started the hot phase of the local election campaign. The chairman of the Federal SPD, Sigmar Gabriel , was also present in Hofheim am Taunus .
The Hessian Social Democrats also received support from federal politicians during the election campaign. The newly elected First Mayor of Hamburg, Olaf Scholz , was a guest in Frankfurt am Main on March 24th.
- FDP
The Hessian Liberals held their party congress on February 12, 2011 in the congress hall in Giessen . The state chairman Jörg-Uwe Hahn presented the election program. It was passed almost unanimously by the 300 delegates, only one abstention was recorded.
The goals are better childcare, more integration aids and expanded school offers. When it comes to coalition issues at the local level, one is “free of ideology”, Hahn continued. The result of the last election (5.8%) should be improved.
- Alliance 90 / The Greens
On October 30, 2010, the Greens held their state members' meeting in Kassel . State chief Tarek Al-Wazir said that the local elections were being approached with confidence but not megalomania . The number of seats in the local parliaments should be increased by 30%: from the current 700 to over 900. It must be made clear how local politics work with less and less money.
On March 24th, the chairman of the Greens in the German Bundestag , Jürgen Trittin , was a guest in Darmstadt .
- The left
Already on 28/29. August 2010, Die Linke held its party conference in Langenselbold . You stand up for livable communities for everyone, said the state chairman Heidemarie Scheuch-Paschkewitz . The aim is to balance out the disadvantages of rural regions fairly.
On March 19, the federal chairwoman of the Left, Gesine Lötzsch , was a guest in Offenbach am Main for the final spurt of the election campaign. Gregor Gysi , parliamentary group leader of the Left in the Bundestag, spoke on March 24th in Kassel .
Results of the local elections
The turnout was 47.7 percent, 1.9 percentage points higher than in 2006. The CDU asserted itself as the strongest force, but also suffered the greatest losses. The SPD remained the second strongest force ahead of the Greens, who doubled their result. Voting groups and the FDP suffered losses, while Die Linke gained slightly. The pirate party moved into ten district assemblies and the city councils of all five independent cities.
The local elections in the districts and urban districts produced the following weighted official final result:
| Political party | Result | change |
|---|---|---|
| CDU Hessen | 33.7% | −4.8% |
| SPD Hessen | 31.5% | −3.2% |
| Alliance 90 / The Greens Hesse | 18.3% | + 9.1% |
| Groups of voters | 7.2% | −1.4% |
| FDP Hessen | 3.9% | −1.9% |
| The left | 2.7% | +1.7% |
| Pirate Party Germany | 1.3% | +1.3% |
| Others | 1.3% | −0.9% |
For the results in selected Hessian cities see:
Elections in the cities and municipalities belonging to the district
The CDU was able to achieve its best result nationwide with 65.9 percent of the votes in Poppenhausen in East Hesse in the traditionally Catholic district of Fulda . The SPD received 100 percent of the votes in the Nieste community in the Kassel district , as no one else drew up a list. With 21.8 percent of the vote, the FDP achieved its best result in Hesse in Steinbach im Hochtaunuskreis . The Greens achieved their highest result nationwide in Seeheim-Jugenheim in the Darmstadt-Dieburg district with 35.9 percent of the votes, while the Left achieved this with 5.7 percent in Wetter in the Marburg-Biedenkopf district . In Sensbachtal in the Odenwald district , a group of voters was able to win 100 percent of the votes because it was the only list.
The CDU achieved the greatest gains in Bad Orb with 12.3 percentage points, the SPD in Rasdorf with 23.2 percentage points, the FDP in Steinbach with 12.3 percentage points, the Greens in Egelsbach with 18.7 percentage points and the left in Wetter 3.2 percentage points.
In Gründau , the CDU suffered its largest national losses with minus 22.6 percentage points. The SPD lost the most in Hesse with losses of 20.9 percentage points in Immenhausen . With minus 10 percentage points, the FDP in Grebenhain lost the most, the Greens did not suffer any losses. The left recorded their greatest losses in Giessen with 1.9 percentage points.
Mayor and district council elections
In addition to the elections of the local parliaments, three district administrators, three mayors and 36 mayors were newly elected.
- In the Main-Kinzig district , the previous District Administrator Erich Pipa ( SPD ) won the runoff election with 65.0% against Günter Frenz ( CDU ).
- The previous first district member of the Main-Taunus-Kreis , Michael Cyriax (CDU), won the election with 61.5% against two competitors and became the successor of the no longer running Berthold R. Gall (CDU).
- The incumbent district administrator of the Rheingau-Taunus district , Burkhard Albers (SPD), won the runoff election on April 10, 2011 with 60.2% against Jutta Nothacker (CDU).
- In Kassel the incumbent mayor was Bertram Hilgen (SPD) re-elected with 51.3% of the vote in Marburg this was achieved Egon Vaupel (SPD) with 59.3% of the vote also.
- Jochen Partsch ( Greens ) won the runoff election on April 10th in Darmstadt with 69.1% of the vote against incumbent Walter Hoffmann (SPD) and was elected the first green mayor of a major Hessian city.
Reactions from the parties
As expected, the parties assessed the outcome of the elections differently. The parties only agreed on the crucial issue of energy policy .
Volker Bouffier stated that the CDU had achieved both of its goals of remaining the strongest force and incorporating the debt brake into the constitution. The Secretary General of the Hessian CDU, Peter Beuth , saw the good performance of the Greens as a snapshot.
Michael Roth , General Secretary of the Hessian SPD, said that the party with its focus on work and social justice had not been so well received by voters, the nuclear debate had overlaid the other issues. Still, Roth saw a positive trend for his party.
The Greens achieved the best local election results in a large country in their history. The managing director of the Hessian Greens, Kai Klose , pointed out that not only the nuclear debate had mobilized the voters. The straightforwardness, credibility and mastery of the political craft are also reasons for the good performance of the Greens.
The deputy state chairman of the Hessian Liberals, Hans-Jürgen Hielscher , called for the abandonment of nuclear energy after the bitter election defeat. Politics cannot be made against two thirds of the population.
The state chairman of the Left, Ulrich Wilken, was dissatisfied with the result . They wanted to double the mandates, but they failed to achieve that goal. Wilken justified this with the fact that the social question no longer played a role in the last few days before the election.
Breakdowns and irregularities
When counting the ballot papers, mishaps or irregularities occurred in some places.
- There were some problems with the transmission of results on election night. In Altenstadt , the result of the Greens was swapped for that of the FDP, as was the case in Grünberg . In Bad Nauheim , the ballot papers for the referendum were not counted first at a polling station; this delayed the reporting of the results by a good two hours.
- In Selters , the postal vote was repeated on August 21, 2011 in three districts. There, three boxes with postal voting documents were disposed of before the count and burned in the building yard. The postal voters in the districts of Eisenbach , Münster and Haintchen received new postal voting documents after the local council had discovered the error and were allowed to vote again. On August 22, 2011, the community announced the result of the by-election. With a corresponding increase in votes, the CDU secured an absolute majority with 52.0% of the votes, while the BLN lost a seat in return. The other parties or voter communities had to accept small gains or losses, but the distribution of seats did not change for them .
- Among the ballot papers that were considered invalid, there were also valid ballot papers in Frankfurt . The city then had all 19,000 invalid ballots counted again. During this recount, 1,500 valid ballot papers were found and scored accordingly. However, they did not change the distribution of seats in the city council.
- The postal vote was repeated in Melsungen in northern Hesse . There, the morning after the election, the postal voting documents that were in the town hall mailbox were considered invalid because they were too late. The election supervisor Roland Schmidt could not rule out that the documents were thrown in on time because the mailbox in front of the town hall was no longer emptied at 6 p.m. The city council decided in its constituent meeting that the postal vote would be repeated. On June 21, 2011, the city council decided to repeat the postal vote until July 31. The result of the repeat election brought no change in the distribution of seats compared to the regular election at the end of March.
See also
- Results of the local elections in Darmstadt
- Results of the local elections in Frankfurt am Main
- Results of the local elections in Kassel
- Results of the local elections in Offenbach am Main
- Results of the local elections in Wiesbaden
Web links
References and comments
- ↑ Ordinance on the day of the 2011 local elections rv.hessenrecht.hessen.de, accessed on January 23, 2011
- ↑ Dates for mayor and district elections in Hesse at statistik-hessen.de, accessed on January 23, 2011
- ↑ rv.hessenrecht.de: § 32 HGO (Passive Suffrage) , accessed on May 30, 2020
- ↑ The Hessian State Returning Officer: Notes on voting notifications ( Memento of the original from October 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed February 25, 2011
- ↑ Press release of the State Statistical Office of January 27, 2011: A good 4.6 million eligible voters ( memento of the original of January 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed February 3, 2011
- ↑ rv.hessenrecht.de: Section 1 of the Hessian Local Election Act (KWG) , accessed on May 30, 2020
- ↑ HNA , Everything will be red soon , accessed on February 10, 2011
- ↑ a b § 25 Hessische Landkreisordnung (HKO) number of district council members.
- ↑ a b § 38 Hessian Municipality Code (HGO) - number of community representatives.
- ↑ § 82 Hessian Municipal Code (HGO) - election and tasks of the local advisory boards.
- ↑ Press release of the State Statistical Office : 17 parties are running for the district and municipal elections ( memento of the original from January 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed April 25, 2011
- ↑ HR website : Colorful party landscape at election ( memento from February 3, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ), accessed on April 9, 2011
- ↑ State Statistical Office : Nominations for local elections (XLS 205kB)
- ↑ According to information on the website of the Pirate Party of Hesse
- ↑ a b c d e f HR website : CDU election campaign kick-off: children, education, debt brake ( memento of February 4, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on February 19, 2011
- ↑ a b c d e website of HR : Large majority in favor of debt brake - report by the Hessian broadcasting company on the SPD party congress ( memento from November 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ SPD demands more money for municipalities ( memento of the original from September 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Report on the HR website , accessed on January 23, 2011.
- ↑ Website of the SPD Hessen : Olaf Scholz is coming ( Memento of the original from January 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed March 20, 2011
- ↑ a b c d Website of the HR FDP wants to be "free of ideology" ( memento from February 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on February 12, 2011
- ↑ a b c Website of the HR : Page no longer available , search in web archives: Report of the Hessian broadcasting company on the state members' assembly of the Greens
- ↑ a b Report of the state party conference on the pages of the Left
- ↑ Website of the Hessian Left: Gesine Lötzsch in Offenbach ( Memento of the original from May 1, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed March 20, 2011
- ^ Website of the HR : SPD; Greens and Left: The party in the final spurt of the election campaign ( Memento of February 4, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on March 25, 2011
- ↑ Hessian State Statistical Office: Final official final result , accessed on May 31, 2011
- ^ Website of the State Statistical Office : info weighted result , accessed on May 31, 2011
- ^ Hessisches Statistisches Landesamt : Final result Poppenhausen (Wasserkuppe) , accessed on June 1, 2011
- ^ Hessisches Statistisches Landesamt : Final result Nieste , accessed on June 1, 2011
- ↑ a b Hessian State Statistical Office : Final result Steinbach (Taunus) , accessed on June 1, 2011
- ^ Hessian State Statistical Office : Final result Seeheim-Jugenheim , accessed on June 1, 2011
- ↑ a b Hessian State Statistical Office : Final result Wetter (Hessen) , accessed on June 1, 2011
- ↑ Hessian State Statistical Office : Final result Sensbachtal , accessed on June 1, 2011
- ↑ Hessian Statistical Office : Final result Bad Orb , accessed on June 1, 2011
- ↑ Hessian State Statistical Office : Final result Rasdorf , accessed on June 1, 2011
- ^ Hessian State Statistical Office : Final result Egelsbach , accessed on June 1, 2011
- ^ Hessian State Statistical Office : Final result Gründau , accessed on June 1, 2011
- ^ Hessian State Statistical Office : Final result Immenhausen , accessed on June 1, 2011
- ^ Hessisches Statistisches Landesamt : Final result Grebenhain , accessed on June 1, 2011
- ^ Hessian State Statistical Office : Final result Gießen , accessed on June 1, 2011
- ↑ wahlen.hessen.de: Result of the runoff election on April 10, 2011 (Main-Kinzig-Kreis) , accessed on April 15, 2011
- ↑ wahlen.hessen.de: Result of the district election in the Main-Taunus-Kreis , accessed on April 15, 2011
- ↑ wahlen.hessen.de: Result of the runoff election on April 10, 2011 (Rheingau-Taunus district) , accessed on April 15, 2011
- ↑ wahlen.hessen.de: Result of the mayoral election in Kassel , accessed on April 15, 2011
- ↑ wahlen.hessen.de: Result of the mayoral election in Marburg , accessed on April 15, 2011
- ↑ wahlen.hessen.de: Result of the mayor's run- off election in Darmstadt , accessed on April 15, 2011
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Website of the HR : Reactions: Feelings of happiness and hangover mood ( memento from April 1, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on April 25, 2011
- ↑ HR website : Breakdowns on election evening: And that went wrong ... ( Memento from April 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on April 9, 2011
- ↑ HR website : New election glitch: Frankfurt counts invalid ballot papers ( memento from April 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on April 9, 2011
- ↑ HR website : Election workers overwhelmed: 1,500 valid ballot papers found ( memento of April 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on April 9, 2011
- ↑ HR website : After a breakdown in Melsungen: New postal vote in Melsungen suggested ( memento from June 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on April 9, 2011
- ↑ HNA website: Postal voting in Melsungen: Vote by July 31st , accessed on June 22nd, 2011
