The Rhineland-Palatinate state capital Mainz has had a non-party mayor for the first time since 1949 – and he is also the youngest in this office. The 39-year-old Nino Haase received 63.6 percent of the valid votes in the runoff election on Sunday, as the city announced. 36.4 percent of Mainz voted for his competitor from the Greens, Christian Viering. Around 162,000 citizens were invited to vote. Voter turnout was 40.1 percent.
Haase excitedly watched the counting on the Internet at his wife Mandy’s side in a Mainz beer cellar. Among the approximately 200 friends and companions were the head of the state parliamentary group and the parliamentary director of the Free Voters, Joachim Streit and Stephan Wefelscheid. Shortly before 7:00 p.m., Haase exclaimed with relief: “This election is won!” And: “We’ll start working tomorrow!” His first appointment on Monday morning: a radio interview at 7:15 a.m.
After all the districts had been tallied, Queen’s “We are the Champions” rang out in the pub. “Tonight we’re celebrating with enthusiasm,” said Haase, announcing that he wanted to work together across party lines over the next eight years and continue to listen to the population.
Haase congratulated election loser Viering even before the last districts were counted. “It’s a clear result and we have to accept that now,” said the 38-year-old in another bar where the Greens had gathered. “Now you shake hands and look to the future together,” said Viering and made his way to the election winner. Despite his defeat, the Green also saw reason to be happy: In absolute terms, his result was the strongest “that a Green has ever won in a direct election in Mainz”. Now it’s for a faction, the largest in the town hall, about a “constructive and open cooperation” with Haase, who sometimes also serves green issues.
The runoff is a turning point for the largest city in Rhineland-Palatinate. The SPD had provided the mayor since 1949. The election had become necessary because Mayor Michael Ebling (SPD) had moved to the head of the Ministry of the Interior.
The new mayor begins his eight-year term in a comfortable position. Mainly thanks to the tax revenue from Biontech, Mainz, which has long been heavily indebted, is now one of the richest cities in the republic. Haase has to govern with a traffic light majority in the city parliament, but there are local elections in 2024.
“Although Haase is not a red-green-yellow, he appears pragmatic and willing to compromise in the election campaign,” said political scientist Uwe Jun from the University of Trier. “He made substantive offers to red and green and is not that far removed from the yellow anyway.”
Haase had already emerged as the clear favorite from the first ballot on February 12. He received 40.2 percent of the votes, clearly outperforming his six competitors. 21.5 percent of Mainz voters voted for Viering.
Haase was the best known of the seven candidates for the OB post at Mainz. The graduate chemist and entrepreneur made himself known as spokesman for a citizens’ initiative that overturned the Bible Tower draft for a new building for the Gutenberg Museum in a referendum in 2018. In 2019 he had already competed in the mayoral election – as a candidate for the CDU – and got into the runoff.
At that time, however, he had to admit defeat against incumbent Ebling, although he also won a respectable 44.8 percent. After this defeat in 2019, he was no longer particularly noticeable in local politics until Ebling became interior minister and therefore a new mayor had to be elected.
Elections in Mainz Homepage Christian Viering Homepage Nino Haase
