Status: 06.11.2022 20:24
The controversial mayor of Frankfurt am Main, Feldmann, has been voted out. In a referendum, the necessary number of votes was clearly exceeded. Feldmann is currently on trial for taking advantage.
Peter Feldmann has been deselected as mayor of Frankfurt. The necessary quorum of 30 percent of all eligible voters was reached in the referendum. The SPD politician appeared before the press before the end of the count and admitted that he would be voted out. “That means that I will no longer be mayor on Friday,” he said. Formally, he is the head of the city administration until the end of the week.
Special election procedure
The deselection was not a classic local election, but a referendum. Therefore, a simple majority was not enough to dismiss Feldmann, but a quorum had to be met at the same time. 30 percent of all eligible voters had to vote for the deselection.
This equates to 152,455 votes for deselection, which was significantly exceeded. Shortly before the end of the count, almost 200,000 Frankfurters had voted to vote out the mayor. Around 95 percent of voters were against Feldmann remaining in office.
Process for accepting an advantage
Feldmann has been criticized for months for his alleged role in the affair about excessive salaries at the Arbeiterwohlfahrt (AWO) – and since October also before the Frankfurt district court. There he has to answer for the accusation of accepting an advantage.
Feldmann’s former partner and later wife is said to have received too much money and a company car as the head of a German-Turkish daycare center. The indictment accuses Feldmann that this employment relationship was closed from 2014 due to his position as mayor. In the 2018 election campaign, the Frankfurt AWO is said to have supported Feldmann by raising donations. Feldman denies the allegations.
Scandal at Eintracht Frankfurt
He also slipped up again and again, for example when he snatched the Frankfurt Eintracht European Cup in the Römer. The Eintracht leadership then declared him an undesirable person in the stadium.
The SPD also dropped him
In the summer, he was voted out of office by the city council with a large majority, including votes from his own party. However, representatives from the left spectrum had emphasized that Feldmann had done a lot for the city. Feldmann could have accepted the vote of the city councillors, but let a deadline pass, which is why the citizens now had to decide. The election campaign for Feldmann’s successor should soon begin in Frankfurt.