The people of Eichenauer trust Mayor Peter Münster (FDP) for a second term. In a runoff election on Sunday, the 56-year-old clearly prevailed against his challenger, the 44-year-old local councilor Markus Hausberger from the Greens. According to the preliminary result, Münster received 2,853 votes, which corresponds to a share of 63.81 percent, while Hausberger received 1,618 votes, i.e. 36.19 percent. As expected, the turnout of 47.84 percent was below the 54.11 percent of the first ballot.
In the first round two weeks ago, Munster narrowly missed winning the election directly. He got 49.63 percent of the votes, in the number of 2520. Because he was 0.37 percent missing for the absolute majority, he had to face the second-placed Hausberger in the runoff on Sunday. The Green received 28.38 percent of the vote in the original election on June 26. The third-placed candidate Peter Zeiler from the CSU was eliminated with 22 percent.
Both candidates are disappointed that not even half of the voters in Eichenau voted at all. In the two weeks between the two ballots, both Münster and Hausberger concentrated on convincing non-voters to go to the polls.
Peter Münster, who was confirmed in office, appeared happy shortly after the preliminary result was announced, but also a little surprised at the clear distribution of votes. “In the runoff, the challenger traditionally has the greater mobilization potential.” He understands the clearness with which they re-elected him as an expression of the citizens’ trust in his program and as an appreciation of his work to date.
The defeated Markus Hausberger sees the outcome of the runoff as a success. After all, he was running for the first time and so far no challenger has succeeded in forcing an incumbent mayor of Eichenau into the runoff election. “I’m not happy, but satisfied,” he summarized on election night. Now, together with the colleagues in his group, he wants to concentrate on continuing to represent their points of view in the municipal council. “Post vote is pre vote.”