Local elections in Hesse in 2021

The local elections in Hesse 2021 will take place on March 14, 2021. The Hessian state government had set the election date by ordinance of May 18, 2020.

Local councils are elected every five years in Hessen. This includes the election of the district councils , city councils and municipal councils as well as the local advisory councils . The members of the association chamber of the planning association for the Frankfurt / Rhein-Main conurbation and the composition of the regional assemblies of the three Hessian administrative districts - Darmstadt , Giessen , Kassel - are determined indirectly .

At the same time as the local elections, some mayor and district elections will take place again.

The last local elections took place on March 6, 2016.

Eligible voters

In the Hessian municipal elections in 2021, all citizens of the European Union who are 18 years of age on election day and who have been resident in the municipality for at least three months are eligible to vote. For the local council elections, a voter entitled to vote must have lived in the local district for at least three months . In addition, voters may not be excluded from the right to vote or de-registered ex officio on the basis of civil or criminal court decisions .

All eligible voters who have reached the age of 18 on election day and have lived in the municipality or city for at least six months are eligible. Likewise, they must not have lost their eligibility for election or their ability to hold public office as a result of a judgment.

Election process

In the local elections, the citizens of Hesse are called upon to redefine the composition of the local bodies. These include district assemblies , city council assemblies or municipal councils and local councils .

The elections take place according to the principles of proportional representation combined with voting. If only one nomination is allowed, the majority vote is used. This was the case in Sensbachtal in the Odenwald district and in Rasdorf in the Fulda district .

In the elections you have as many votes as the respective body has seats. Voters have the option to cumulate their votes (up to three votes per applicant) and to variegate them , that is, to vote for candidates from different lists.

The mayoral elections are based on majority voting principles.

Direct elections

Mayor and district elections take place in Hesse as direct elections. Due to the 6-year term of office, these direct elections only coincide with the general local elections. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany , the Hessian state parliament passed the law in its session on March 24, 2020 to ensure the municipal decision-making ability and postpone the mayoral election . The date for holding the mayoral elections, which were previously supposed to take place between April and October 2020, was canceled. The respective local parliaments were authorized to redefine the new election date. The election could not be postponed until November 1, 2020 at the earliest. A joint election with the local elections was also made possible.

Starting position

The elections in 2016 resulted in losses for the large parties CDU and SPD, which are now almost on par. The Greens suffered great losses and gave back most of their 2011 profits. The AfD achieved a double-digit result, and the FDP was also able to make up some of its 2011 losses. The national political issue of the refugee crisis in Germany and the performance of the AfD dominated the supraregional and regional reporting of the Hessian local elections, which were mostly interpreted as protest elections . The media and politicians found the voter turnout of 48% problematic for democracy. Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel , chairman of the SPD Hessen, criticized in this context, even before the start of the election, the "overwhelming citizens" voting mode.

In the 21 rural districts and 5 urban districts, 224 nominations were allowed and in the 421 municipalities belonging to the district, 1804 nominations campaigned for votes.

The following selected groups have won mandates:

Nomination	number of Counties	Top results		number of Communities	Top results
Nomination	number of Counties	Surname	%	number of Communities	Surname	%
Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU)	21st	FD	46.5	405	Eppertshausen	72.2
Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)	21st	KS	44.3	414	Söhrewald	71.1
Alliance 90 / The Greens (Greens)	21st	MTK	14.2	209	Darmstadt	29.7
The left	21st	MR	6.5	49	Weather (Hessen)	8.1
Free Democratic Party (FDP)	21st	HG	11.3	197	Steinbach (Taunus)	39.0
Free voters (namely FW, FWG, UWG, ÜWG)	20th	ERB	13.7	206	Reinhardshagen	64.7
Alternative for Germany (AfD)	20th	HP	15.9	23	Dietzenbach	14.7
Pirate Party Germany (Pirates)	8th	GI	1.7	8th	Frankenau	3.7
The Republicans (REP)	3	FD	1.0	5	Hanau	9.6
National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD)	3	FB	2.2	4th	Leun	11.2

For the results in selected Hessian cities see:

Composition of the municipal bodies

The size of the communal bodies depends on the population figures that the Hessian State Statistical Office announced in September 2015. The respective number of seats is specified in the Hessian district regulation (HKO) and in the Hessian municipality regulation (HGO).

District meetings

Sample ballot for the election of the district council of the Schwalm-Eder district

The composition of the district councils is as follows:

Population of a district	Number of 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

Sample ballot for the election of the city council of Spangenberg

The composition of the city council assemblies or municipal councils is as follows:

population	Number of 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 smallest municipal councils are those in Hesseneck , Sensbachtal and Cornberg with 11 seats each and the one in Breitenbach am Herzberg with 13 seats. There are 15 seats in another 45 municipalities. including in the six towns of Rosenthal , Grebenau , Frankenau , Romrod , Ulrichstein and Schwarzenborn . The committee has 17 seats in five municipalities: in the municipalities of Gorxheimertal , Ronneburg and Schrecksbach and in the small towns of Bad Karlshafen and Hirschhorn (Neckar) . 12 municipalities each have 19 seats to allocate. There are nine communities and the three small towns Lorch , Neckarsteinach and Wanfried . The next largest category is 23 seats, which are to be filled in 75 municipalities, including 17 city councils. The citizens' councils in 19 municipalities, including the small towns of Neustadt (Hessen) , Diemelstadt , Beerfelden and Leun, have 25 seats . 18 municipal parliaments in Hesse have 27 seats to assign, including the cities of Reichelsheim (Wetterau) , Staufenberg , Bad König , Homberg (Ohm) and Bad Sooden-Allendorf . The city council in Gedern has 29 seats. Finally, a large group is the people's representatives with 31 seats, which can be found 114 times in Hesse, including in 43 cities. There are 33 seats in four city councils. And 37 seats can be found 93 times, 72 of which are cities. The cities of Rödermark and Bad Hersfeld have set the number at 39. There are 45 city councilors in each of 20 cities. In Bad Homburg vor der Höhe there are 49 places to be filled. In Hanau there are 53, while in Fulda , Gießen , Marburg and Wetzlar 59 city councilors are to be elected. In Darmstadt, Kassel and Offenbach the city council has 71 seats each, in Wiesbaden there are 81 and in Frankfurt 93. This city has the largest municipal parliament in Hesse.

Local councils

Sample ballot for the election of the local advisory board in Pfieffe (city of Spangenberg )

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.