In turbulent times, Mayor Claus Ruhe Madsen (independent) turned his back on Rostock. The anticipation of the forthcoming election is limited. The appointment is on Wednesday.
Rostock (dpa/mv) - The Rostock citizenship wants to decide the date for the election of a new mayor in an emergency meeting late Wednesday afternoon. The new election became necessary because the previous mayor, Claus Ruhe Madsen (non-party), surprisingly moved to Schleswig-Holstein as Economics Minister. The city has proposed November 6 as the election date. Because the majority of the citizens are going too fast, it will probably be November 13th - a week later. A possible run-off election is planned for November 27th.
One does not want to have to nominate any candidates during the summer holidays, explained SPD parliamentary group leader Thoralf Sens in the citizenship. "I don't think that's good form for such an important office." The member of parliament and head of the Rostock CDU, Daniel Peters, said that after the summer break there was not much time for an appropriate election campaign.
From the point of view of the CDU politician, the election is inconvenient for the city. Planned urban development projects would now have to be discussed again after the cancellation of the Federal Garden Show 2025. "From my point of view, of course, continuity would have been needed." The head of the left-wing citizenship group, Eva-Maria Kröger, said: "Because the list of tasks is so long and the challenges are so great, I don't think we are all enthusiastic." Like Peters, she pointed out additional challenges for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's largest city as a result of the Ukraine war, such as rising energy costs.
Initially, there was hardly any information about possible candidatures and the question of whether and which parties would jointly send applicants into the race. The Rostock Greens were self-confident when asked. You see good opportunities for your own party. Support for a Green candidacy by other parties, as in Greifswald, would be "a good signal". There, Stefan Fassbinder of the Greens recently secured his second term as mayor with the support of the SPD and Left Party.
