DrThe Greens imagined the outcome of the Heidelberg municipal elections differently. I really wanted to move after the defeats in Freiburg in 2018 and Constance in 2012 and the turmoil Boris Palmer Back in political science in Tübingen in a university town. Recently, the Green Party has only been able to win mayoral elections in medium-sized cities such as Göppingen or Böblingen. Theresa Bauer took the risks, resigned her position as science minister and had to learn Sunday evening that the willingness to take risks and her reputation were not enough: Bauer received just 28.6 percent of the vote, and Eckart Forzner, the non-party incumbent, endorsed her. From the CDU and the FDP, he got 45.9 percent. Sören Michelsburg (SPD) came in at 13.5 percent.
Because Würzner, who has been in power for 16 years, has just lost an absolute majority, another election must be held on November 27. In the state of Baden-Württemberg, there are currently no runoff elections in the mayoral election, so there could be other and new candidates besides Forzner and Bauer. Bauer’s chances of winning the election in two weeks are manageable: On Sunday, she managed to win only out of 15 Heidelberg districts in Weststadt. In other parts of the city with a stable green voting environment, such as Bergheim or Bahnstadt, Forzner won. Support from the university, which had always treated Bauer privately as a minister, was also mixed: Rector Bernard Eitel publicly settled accounts with Bauer’s science policy before the elections.
After Theresia Power informed Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (the Green Party) and her parliamentary group about the intended candidacy, this was publicly praised as courageous. Internally, some were outraged: Is it worth sending a prominent green party to a somewhat hopeless campaign against a successful black-green mayor internationally committed to climate protection? “When Kretschmann, Fürzner and former Environment Minister Svenja Schulz spoke at a conference on climate protection in Heidelberg, Forzner delivered the greenest speech,” recalls a local politician. Heidelberg.
It is now reported from the Realo camp that Bauer’s defeat shows just how impressive Boris Palmer’s victory was in Tübingen at the end of October. After a decade in state government, the Greens have not succeeded in increasing their influence in political front organizations and in finding the right people for character elections. “Everyone who wins their own constituency directly tends to forget that they owe it to Kretschmann’s popularity,” Green says.
