The election campaign for the mayoral election this Sunday brings some insights. If you are wondering how to pronounce the surname of the independent applicant Feng Xu, the candidate has a practical help on his website in the form of an audio file and phonetic transcription. Xu comes from Jilin in China, but has lived in Germany for more than 40 years. He has worked in various logistics companies and very specific demands. They range from kindergarten places for every child to building cooperatives for police officers, railway workers and nurses. Under the keyword "Peace" there is the possibility to vote on questions of war and inflation. When asked who sabotaged the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, it is 59 percent for the US versus 30 percent for Russia.

Bernhard Biener

Editor at the Rhein-Main-Zeitung

  • Follow I follow

The forwarding agent is one of 20 candidates who help the ballot paper, with which a successor to Peter Feldmann (SPD) is elected, to its record length. First of all, the parties and groups represented in the Römer have contributed to this, almost all of which have their own candidates. In addition to the Greens, CDU, SPD, Left and FDP, these are Andreas Lobenstein of the AfD, Mathias Pfeiffer of the citizens for Frankfurt, Katharina Tanczos for "Die Partei" and Tilo Schwichtenberg, the only representative of the Garden Party in the city council. For him, the name of the party is in a certain sense program, as the slogan "Baumrecht vor Baurecht" and also his contributions to the city parliament show.

The satirical party "Die Partei" is actually standing for election with "Prof. Dr. Dr. Bembel". However, the local serving vessel for cider does not meet the eligibility criterion according to the law. Even if eyes are glued on. That's why the 33-year-old hearing aid acoustician has to run as the human spokesperson for the Bembel professor.

Why do people go into a hopeless race?

Among the other eleven candidates who are independent or stand for micro-parties, Maja Wolff and Peter Wirth fall into a separate category. Wolff has made a name for herself through her cultural work and as the organizer of the Green Sauce Festival and stands out for her large posters and her professionally conducted election campaign. As a "true Frankfurter", she wants to make the city a "radiant metropolis" again.

Peter Wirth, on the other hand, whose stage name "Bahnbabo" is also officially on the ballot paper, made the leap from social networks to reality during the election campaign. On Twitter and Instagram there are countless photos of the muscle-bound tram driver with the dark aviator glasses, but also in discussions of the mayoral candidates at schools, the "Bahnbabo" has usually met with the greatest interest. Which is why he likes to call himself a "bridge builder" between generations and cultures.

The other candidates had to be searched for a long time, but now most of them have their own website, and there are even posters on the streets. But why do people enter a, realistically speaking, hopeless race? "Complaining is always possible, that's why I want to exercise my democratic right," says Sven Junghans. The 49-year-old Höchst ferryman hears what keeps people busy from his passengers in the few minutes to the Schwanheimer Ufer. The districts are particularly close to his heart, he wants more powers for the local advisory councils – and the city employees. Junghans finds the sentence worst in contact with authorities: "I can't decide that."

Entrepreneur and allotment gardener

Markus Eulig has made a name for himself with his song about eggnog. "The idea was born during the pandemic at a notary," says the 61-year-old journalist whose main residence is in Abu Dhabi. "There was nothing else left." A friend gave him the idea of candidacy. According to Feldmann, someone is needed who does not come from the establishment and who thinks economically. Eulig supports foreign companies in setting up in Germany. "I also trust myself to do the job of Lord Mayor."

Niklas Pauli is chairman of the allotment gardeners' association Riederwald, which explains his motivation: Above all, he wants to prevent allotments from having to be abandoned for the construction of the European school on Ratsweg, and is running as a "non-politician for Frankfurt".

The trade unionist Yamòs Camara already works in the Römer, as an office clerk in the main office and city marketing. He is also a member of the staff council. Camara is secretary general of the Free Party Frankfurt, which received 0.2 percent of the vote in the local elections. Khurrem Akhtar is also running for a young party, Team Todenhöfer. The Frankfurt-born entrepreneur co-founded the Hessian branch of the party. He is committed to a "visionary restart" for Frankfurt and wants to give the city "meaning, dignity and a more social face". Peter Pawelski presented a complete election programme early on, including a new distribution of departments. He is a member of the European party Volt, but is running as an independent. Pawelski comes from the start-up scene and gained experience in the election campaign in 2017. He supported the CDU candidate Bernadette Weyland with a digitization concept for schools and also belonged to the Union.

Frank Großenbach wants to introduce a new voting platform in order to involve citizens more strongly. In the corona pandemic, the lawyer has "critically accompanied the restrictions for traders and people in our country", which brought him from the SPD to the party "Die Basis". Finally, Karl-Maria Schulte is on the ballot paper, who has already stood several times in the mayoral election and sees the fact that the order of the independent candidates on the ballot paper is drawn by lot as electoral fraud.