For the first time, a female mayor is moving into the town hall of Rostock, the largest city in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. In the runoff election for the post of mayor, Eva-Maria Kröger won against the independent Michael Ebert.
For the first time in the history of Rostock, a woman has been elected mayor: The 40-year-old left-wing politician Eva-Maria Kröger prevailed in the run-off against her competitor - the non-party Michael Ebert, who is supported by the CDU and FDP. According to the preliminary result, Kröger was uncatchable ahead with 58.4 percent of the votes. Ebert came up with 41.6 percent. Voter turnout was 36.9 percent.
Kröger is a member of the state parliament and has been leader of the Left Party parliamentary group in Rostock for many years. She was very grateful for the election result, she said in the town hall. "It's a very happy moment right now." At the same time, she emphasized that every Democrat is always disappointed when voter turnout is low. Kröger and senior police officer Ebert came out on top in the first round on November 13 from a field of 17 candidates and thus made it into the runoff.
SPD and Greens had asked their voters to vote for Kröger. The election was necessary because the previous incumbent, Claus Ruhe Madsen, moved to Schleswig-Holstein as Economics Minister in June in the cabinet of Prime Minister Daniel Günther. The office of Lord Mayor is awarded for a period of seven years. With almost 210,000 inhabitants, Rostock is the largest city in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania.
