Politics in Cottbus
The following lists the results of various elections in Cottbus . The results of the elections for the city council from 1993, for the mayor from 2002 and the results of further elections from 2004 are given.
Only those parties and voter groups are listed that have received more than 1.5 percent of the valid votes in at least one election. If this limit is exceeded several times, results from one percent are also listed. The field of the party that received the most votes or seats in the respective election is marked in color.
Local elections
A mayor has been at the head of the city of Cottbus since the 13th century , but only a few names have survived. They probably acted as spokespersons for the residents and were subordinate to the lord of the castle. By the 16th century at the latest, there was also a council consisting of councilors and four mayors. Later the number of mayors changed. Since the 19th century, the mayor has usually carried the title of "Lord Mayor". The council was then called the city council .
During the Nazi era , the mayor was appointed by the NSDAP in accordance with the provisions of the German municipal code and the city council was dissolved. After the Second World War , the Soviet zone of occupation formed the “ City Council ” with a mayor. After the reunification of Germany , the city council was freely elected again. It is the main body of the city administration and was last elected in the local elections on September 28, 2008 by the citizens for six years. The committee elects the chairman of the city council from among its members. The mayor is directly elected by the people.
Mayor elections
Election 2002
In the Mayor election on February 24, 2002, no candidate was able to prevail. Only in the runoff election on March 17, 2002 was the non-party Karin Rätzel elected. She used to be a member of the SPD .
Vote shares of the applicants in percent
| election day | Klaus Zacharias (SPD) | Karin Kühl (PDS) | Markus Derling (CDU) | Hans-Joachim Weißflog (Greens) | Martin Neumann (FDP) | Sven Pautz | Karin Rätzel | André Schneider |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 02/24/2002 | 16.48 | 12.58 | 17.04 | 5.94 | 11.62 | 4.62 | 29.76 | 1.97 |
| 03/17/2002 (runoff) | - | - | 33.67 | - | - | - | 66.33 | - |
The disappointment with the local politics of the parties led to the very low voter turnout of 28.41 percent in the local elections in 2003 and the gain of votes for the non-party list “Active Independent Citizens”.
2006 election
On 3 May 2006, the city council voted one of the initiation of civil Entscheides to dismissal from the mayor. This motion was adopted with 41 votes in favor, 6 against with one abstention . Ms. Rätzel are accused of making costly mistakes in connection with the deficit municipal utilities and building a new swimming pool. The referendum took place on Sunday, July 2nd, 2006. The request for voting out was successful, as more than the required quarter of the 87,925 eligible voters decided against the incumbent. Of the 31,311 votes cast (turnout of 35.61%), 27,901 (89.11%) voted against Ms. Karin Rätzel as Lord Mayor. 3,229 (10.31%) voted to remain in office. Her term of office ended when the official election results were confirmed on July 6, 2006. One day later, Holger Kelch ( CDU ), the deputy of the mayor of Cottbus, was assigned the duties of general representative of the mayor of Cottbus until the new election transferred by the mayor.
On October 22nd, 2006 the early election for mayor took place. Only two candidates were admitted by the state election committee, appeals against the non-admission of further applicants were rejected for formal reasons. The Brandenburg Minister for Urban Development, Housing and Transport, Frank Szymanski , who was also supported by the Greens, ran for the SPD . His opponent was the incumbent Lord Mayor Holger Kelch , candidate of the "Bündnis Cottbus". Behind this alliance stood a list association of five parties and political associations represented in the city council. These were Linkspartei.PDS , CDU , Active Independent Citizens (AUB), FDP and Frauenliste . A special feature was the agreement between the local CDU and the Linkspartei.PDS, which took place against strong resistance from the state CDU.
According to the final result of the election of the city's mayor, 13,509 citizens elected Holger Kelch and 21,273 citizens Frank Szymanski.
Vote shares of the applicants in percent
| year | Frank Szymanski | Holger Kelch |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 61.16 | 38.84 |
Of the 87,532 eligible voters, 35,325 (40.36%) cast their votes.
Szymanski was appointed Lord Mayor of Cottbus on November 29, 2006. The appointment was delayed because an objection was raised about the use of voting computers in the election , but this was rejected. After eight years - on September 14, 2014 - Szymanski had to face a re-election , which he lost. The new Lord Mayor of the City of Cottbus is Holger Kelch, who has also reapplied.
Election 2014
Vote shares of the applicants in percent
| year | Frank Szymanski | Holger Kelch | Lars Krause |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 37.27 | 50.66 | 12.07 |
Of the 85,141 eligible voters, 40,736 (48.82%) cast their votes.
Elections to the city council
Share of votes of the parties in percent
| year | Wbt. in % | SPD | left | CDU | AUB | FDP | Green | FLC | NPD | DSU | BüBü | SUB | AfD | UC! | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 65.05 | 20.45 | 23.31 | 33.25 | - | 4.73 | 0.37 | - | - | 2.77 | - | - | - | - | 14.80 |
| 1993 | 57.58 | 28.5 | 27.9 | 20.1 | - | 5.01 | 6.0 | 5.5 | - | 1.6 | 4.9 | - | - | - | - |
| 1998 | 78.16 | 36.4 | 23.9 | 23.8 | - | 3.1 | 5.8 | 4.0 | - | 1.5 | 1.5 | - | - | - | - |
| 2003 | 28.41 | 20.0 | 26.8 | 24.1 | 14.0 | 4.8 | 6.1 | 3.2 | - | 1.1 | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2008 | 42.7 | 28.6 | 26.9 | 18.2 | 8.4 | 5.7 | 4.8 | 3.1 | 3.0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2014 | 39.7 | 20.9 | 21.0 | 27.7 | 6.3 * | 3.1 | 6.3 | 2.5 | 2.7 | - | - | 2.2 | 7.2 | - | - |
| 2019 | 56.3 | 15.6 | 13.7 | 17.2 | 5.9 * | 4.1 | 9.1 | - | 0.8 | - | - | 1.8 | 22.3 | 9.4 | - |
- AUB 2014 and 2019 together with BVB / FREIE WÄHLER.
Distribution of seats
| year | Ges. | SPD | left | CDU | AUB | FDP | Green | FLC | NPD | DSU | BüBü | SUB | AfD | UC! |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | n / a | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1993 | n / a | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1998 | 50 | 18th | 12 | 12 | - | 1 | 3 | 2 | - | 1 | 1 | - | - | - |
| 2003 | 50 | 10 | 13 | 12 | 7th | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | 1 | - | - | - | - |
| 2008 | 50 | 14th | 14th | 9 | 4th | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2014 | 46 | 10 | 10 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | - | - | 1 | 3 | - |
| 2019 | 50 | 8th | 7th | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4th | - | - | - | - | 1 | 11 | 5 |
Legend:
- AUB: Active Independent Citizens
- BüBü: Citizens' Alliance
- FLC: Cottbus women's list
- Total: total
- Not specified: no information
- SUB: Social upheaval Cottbus (together with Die PARTTEI)
- UC !: Our Cottbus
- Wbt .: turnout
The turnout in the last election for the city council in 2019 was 56.3%, in 2014 39.7% and in 2008 42.7%. At the election (2003) it was still 28.4%.
Current city council meeting
In 2008-2014, the city council had 50 members in addition to the mayor Frank Szymanski (SPD). The venue is the new town house at Erich-Kästner-Platz 1.
The decreed had come together to form five parliamentary groups: SPD / Greens (16 members), Die Linke (14 members), CDU / FLC (11 members), FDP (3 members) and AUB (4 members). The two NPD members were non-attached . The FDP parliamentary group formed a counting community with the CDU / FLC parliamentary group .
The SPD, Die Linke and Greens entered into cooperation after the local elections . They had 30 of the 50 seats.
The previous chairmen of the city council were Klaus Bernhard Friedrich (CDU), Reinhard Beer (SPD), Siegfried Kretzsch (SPD) and Michael Wonneberger (CDU). Between April 24, 2008 and October 21, 2008, the position of chairman was vacant and was headed by the first deputy chairman Karin Kühl (Die Linke). Reinhard Drogla (SPD) has been the new chairman of the city council since October 22, 2008.
The next election to the city council will not take place until 2014 (after six years) due to a special regulation in the law on local elections in the state of Brandenburg. After 2014, local elections will again be held every five years.
More choices
In the following, further election results of the city of Cottbus (excluding voting shares from municipalities that do not belong to the city or the district of Spree-Neisse) for the state , Bundestag and European elections of the past ten years are listed:
State elections
Share of votes of the parties in percent ( second votes )
| year | SPD | left | CDU | AfD | DVU | FDP | Green | NPD | FW | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 34.1 | 29.3 | 16.6 | - | 5.1 | 3.1 | 3.4 | - | - | 8.4 |
| 2009 | 33.5 | 29.3 | 18.5 | - | - | 6.6 | 5.3 | 2.6 | 2.1 | 2.1 |
| 2014 | 30.7 | 17.4 | 29.4 | 10.7 | - | 1.2 | 4.8 | 1.9 | 1.6 | 2.4 |
The turnout in 2004 was 52.8%, five years later it rose by 10.6 percentage points to 63.4% and was thus almost identical to the turnout in the 2009 Bundestag election, which was taking place at the same time.
In the last two state elections, the city of Cottbus was divided into two constituencies :
- Constituency 43 - Cottbus I (with the districts : Branitz , Dissenchen, Döbbrick , Merzdorf, Mitte, Sandow, Saspow, Schmellwitz, Sielow , Skadow and Willmersdorf). Martina Münch (SPD) was elected to Potsdam in 2004 and 2009 as the direct candidate ( first vote) for this constituency .
- Constituency 44 - Cottbus II (with the districts: Kahren , Madlow, Sachsendorf, Spremberger Vorstadt and Ströbitz as well as Gallinchen, Groß Gaglow and Kiekebusch). In 2009 Jürgen Maresch (Die Linke) was elected to the state parliament as a direct candidate for this constituency . He was able to prevail against Kerstin Kircheis (SPD), who until then held the mandate for this constituency.
Bundestag elections
Share of votes of the parties in percent (second votes)
| year | left | SPD | CDU | FDP | Green | Pirates | NPD | AfD | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 27.4 | 39.3 | 17.5 | 6.3 | 5.3 | - | 2.6 | - | 1.6 |
| 2009 | 30.5 | 25.0 | 22.2 | 8.6 | 5.7 | 3.7 | 2.3 | - | 2.0 |
| 2013 | 24.22 | 23.16 | 32.77 | 2.40 | 4.25 | 2.55 | 2.19 | 6.84 | 1.28 |
| 2017 | 16.5 | 15.17 | 24.12 | 7.64 | 3.15 | - | 1.11 | 26.84 | 4.42 |
The turnout in 2005 was 72.0%, four years later it fell by 8.7 percentage points to 63.3%. In 2013 it rose again slightly to 65.75%.
In the elections to the 17th German Bundestag (2009), the independent city of Cottbus and the Spree-Neisse district formed the Cottbus - Spree-Neisse constituency ( 2005 and 2013 : constituency 65; 2009 : constituency 64). As a direct candidate (first vote ) Wolfgang Nešković (Die Linke) moved into the Bundestag and was able to prevail against the re-running Steffen Reiche (SPD). Nešković resigned from the left faction on December 13, 2012 . However, he continued his direct mandate until the end of the legislative period and then wanted to defend it as an independent candidate in the 2013 federal election . With only 9.39% of the vote, he did not succeed. Instead, the direct candidate of the CDU, Klaus-Peter Schulze, won 31.17% of the votes against the equally strong candidates from the SPD (Ullrich Freese) with 25.95% and the left (Birgit Wöllert) with 21.04%.
European elections
Share of votes of the parties in percent
| year | left | SPD | CDU | Green | FDP | AfD | NPD | The party | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 36.5 | 21.2 | 19.6 | 4.7 | 9.7 | - | - | - | 8.7 |
| 2009 | 28.5 | 23.7 | 21.0 | 8.9 | 6.0 | - | - | - | 12.0 |
| 2014 | 21.5 | 25.5 | 23.8 | 6.0 | 2.1 | 9.7 | 2.3 | 1.7 | 7.4 |
The turnout in 2004 was 22.6%, five years later it rose by 3.2 percentage points to 25.8%. In the 2014 election - which took place at the same time as the local elections - the turnout was 40.2%.
Web links
- City of Cottbus - Information on the mayor and city council
- State Returning Officer Brandenburg
- Office for Statistics Berlin-Brandenburg
Individual evidence
- ↑ Results of the mayoral election of February 24, 2002 and runoff election of March 17, 2002 for the city of Cottbus (pages 14 & 17) (PDF; 1.2 MB)
- ^ Law on municipal elections in the state of Brandenburg - § 74 term of office of full-time mayors and lords
- ↑ Results of the municipal elections 1990–1998 ( Memento of the original from August 12, 2014 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.
- ^ Results of the local elections in 1993 and 1998
- ↑ Results of the 2003 local elections
- ↑ Results of the 2008 local elections (page 6) (PDF; 2.3 MB)
- ↑ Results of the 2014 local elections
- ↑ Results of the local elections 2019
- ^ Law on local elections in the state of Brandenburg - § 7a special regulation on election day and on the election period for the next general local elections in 2008
- ↑ Results of the state elections of September 19, 2004 and September 27, 2009 for the city of Cottbus (p.55) (PDF; 4.6 MB)
- ↑ Results of the Bundestag election of September 18, 2005 and September 27, 2009 for the city of Cottbus (p.21) (PDF; 2.7 MB)
- ↑ Result of the Bundestag election September 22, 2013 Cottbus second vote ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2013 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.
- ^ Declaration by Nešković on leaving the left-wing parliamentary group ( Memento of the original from December 15, 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.
- ↑ Result of the Bundestag election September 22, 2014 First vote Cottbus ( Memento of the original from September 26, 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.
- ↑ Results of the European elections of June 13, 2004 and June 7, 2009 for the city of Cottbus (p. 11) (PDF; 1.9 MB)
- ↑ Results of the European elections of May 25th for the city of Cottbus ( Memento of the original of May 29th, 2014 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.
