Frankfurt: Peter Feldmann’s political end
The Lord Mayor of Frankfurt is first voted out and then sentenced.
That’s what you call the irony of history. It’s been ten years since Boris Rhein’s (CDU) career seemed over, while Peter Feldmann (SPD) faced a promising political future. Completely surprisingly, Feldmann had won the mayoral election against Rhein. The SPD politician became mayor, his opponent lost his position as interior minister and had to switch to the science department. And now, in autumn 2022, it’s the other way around. Rhein is prime minister and has achieved his political dreams. And Feldmann’s career ends on November 6th. The people of Frankfurt vote him out.
The result is clear. More than 200,000 people voted “Yes” in the referendum and thus against Feldmann. This election evening is already decided when Tarkan Akman, the leader of the vote, announces that more than 100,000 citizens have applied for a postal vote and 90 percent of them have actually sent the documents back. This makes it clear: Feldmann already has 90,000 votes against him, because almost no one among the postal voters will have voted for him. Just under 65,000 are still missing to reach the quorum of 30 percent of those entitled to vote. Within 90 minutes they come together. Around 7:30 p.m. Feldmann admits his defeat – while first listing what he sees as the successes of his ten-year tenure.
An alliance of the Roman coalition (Greens, SPD, FDP and Volt) and the CDU campaigned for Feldmann’s deselection. The important argument: a mayor should not sit in the dock. In March, the public prosecutor’s office brought charges against the Social Democrats on suspicion of corruption. Since then, the pressure on Feldmann has increased every day.
Perhaps this pressure was the reason Feldmann made further missteps and embarrassments. Perhaps such an appearance was always part of his duties, but since the indictment the public has taken a closer look. Whatever the case, Feldmann just stumbled through the office for weeks. When Eintracht won the European Cup and were welcomed at the Römer, he tried to put himself at the center of the celebration. He snatched the trophy from captain Sebastian Rode and coach Oliver Glasner and carried it through the town hall. The fact that the then Prime Minister Volker Bouffier (CDU) had the same thing with the DFB Cup in 2018 was a gift. Feldmann was in focus, breakdowns and mistakes count double and triple.
A few days later, a video from a fan plane for the final to Seville also appeared. Peter Feldmann was something like the guest of honor. He greeted the fans over the on-board microphone – and made a sexist comment about the stewardesses.
And yet: It was long considered doubtful that several votes would come together in the deselection, which became necessary after failed negotiations about a voluntary withdrawal. 153,000 people had to vote against Feldmann – more than he last voted for.
The fact that the quorum was reached was down to the mayor himself. In the meantime, the corruption process against him had begun. His defense strategy included portraying his relationship with his wife as distant and bad as possible. So he shared intimate details from his and her personal life. For example, that he would have demanded the abortion of their child. This story (for which Feldmann later publicly apologized to his daughter) went down very badly with the people of Frankfurt. The required majority was against the mayor.
Five days after the election, the result was officially confirmed. Feldmann vacated his office, Mayor Nargess Eskandari-Grünberg (Greens) took over the post on an interim basis. The trial against the SPD politician, who feels betrayed and sold not least by his own party, continued. One day before Christmas Eve, Feldmann was fined 21,000 euros. If the judge’s decision becomes final, the 64-year-old will have a criminal record.
And how does it continue in Romans? March 5th is the mayor election. Favorites are Uwe Becker (CDU), Mike Josef (SPD) and Manuela Rottmann (Greens).