The term of office of the mayor of Frankfurt am Main is over after a good ten years. In a vote on Sunday, the overwhelming majority of the participating citizens voted in favor of Peter Feldmann being voted out of office.
The necessary quorum of 152,455 votes for voting out the SPD politician had already been reached before all the votes were counted. Overall, around 95 percent (as of 7.45 p.m.) voted in favor of it.
In July, a two-thirds majority in the city parliament, including his own party, voted to vote Feldmann out of office. Because he did not accept the vote, the people of Frankfurt were now asked.
Peter Feldmann has been mayor of Frankfurt since 2012 and was re-elected in 2018. Recently, however, the missteps of the 64-year-old politician have increased.
The mayor’s appearances in connection with Eintracht Frankfurt’s win in the Europa League made headlines nationwide. Shortly before the presentation of the trophy on the Römer’s balcony by the trainer and the team, Feldmann took the trophy from the athletes’ hands and walked through the hall of the town hall with it. He also made a name for himself with a sexist statement on the flight to the final venue in Seville about the flight attendants: They would have “hormonally put him out of action,” said Feldmann at the time over the aircraft’s on-board microphone. Eintracht Frankfurt’s board spokesman, Axel Hellmann, then said that the mayor was no longer welcome in the Waldstadion. Feldmann publicly regretted his missteps and apologized.
However, allegations of corruption against Feldmann are likely to outweigh the tactlessness: In March, the public prosecutor’s office brought charges of suspected acceptance of benefits (the Stern reported). It’s about Feldmann’s close ties to Arbeiterwohlfahrt (Awo). Feldmann’s wife is said to have received a salary in excess of the collective agreement as the head of an Awo day-care center “without any objective reason”. According to the public prosecutor’s office, Awo also supported Feldmann in the 2018 election campaign by raising donations. In return, he wanted to “benevolently consider” the interests of Awo Frankfurt. Feldmann rejects the allegations and emphasized several times: “I’m not corrupt.” The process is running.
Recently he caused criticism in the court again: In a statement that his lawyer read out, it was said that he had married his wife because of an unwanted pregnancy. He later apologized to his daughter for the passage about his view at the time that the child should be aborted better.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated since it was first published.
Sources: City of Frankfurt am Main, news agencies DPA and AFP
