Local elections were held in the German state of Hesse on 14 March 2021 to elect district, municipal, and city councils and local boards, as well as mayors in some cities and district administrators in some districts. Indirect elections also took place for the Planning Board of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Regional Authority and the regional councils of Hesse's three governing districts.[1][2]

All EU citizens aged 18 or over on election day were eligible to vote if they had lived in a municipality for at least six weeks. Eligible voters who were not EU citizens could vote if they had lived in a municipality for at least three months.[3]

Election date

Local elections take place every five years in Hesse. The election date of 14 March 2021 was set by the state government on 18 May 2020.[4]

Direct elections for a number of mayors and district administrators were originally scheduled to take place between April and October 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany, these were postponed on 24 March 2020 by the Hessian state parliament, and were scheduled to take place on 1 November 2021 at the earliest. However, city and district councils were permitted to hold alongside the regular local elections if they choose to do so.[5] As a result, the district administrators of Bergstraße, Odenwaldkreis, Schwalm-Eder-Kreis, Kassel, and Hersfeld-Rotenburg and the mayors of Hanau, Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, Fulda, Marburg, and Wetzlar were elected alongside the local elections on 14 March 2021, with runoffs held as necessary.[4]

Electoral system

Bodies with multiple members, such as councils, are elected via proportional representation using panachage. Voters have as many votes as there are seats up for election, which may be cast for candidates in lists. Voters may cast up to three votes for any given candidate, and may cast votes for candidates from multiple lists. Elections to a single position, such as mayors and district administrators, are conducted via the two-round system.[6]

Size of councils

The number of members on each district and city/municipal council is determined by the number of residents it serves. For the 2021 elections, figures released by the Hessian State Statistical Office in September 2015 were used. The number of seats on local boards are determined by the statutes of the respective city or municipality. Local boards must comprise between three and nine members, unless the board serves over 8,000 people, in which case it may have up to nineteen members.[7]

District councils[8] City/municipal councils[9]
Residents Seats Residents Seats
under 100,000 51 under 3,000 15
100,001–150,000 61 3,001–5,000 23
150,001–200,000 71 5,001–10,000 31
200,001–300,000 81 10,001–25,000 37
300,001–400,000 87 25,001–50,000 45
over 400,000 93 50,001–100,000 59
100,001–250,000 71
250,001–500,000 81
500,001–1,000,000 93
over 1,000,000 105

Background and parties

The table below lists the results of the 2016 local elections in the rural districts and the urban districts.[10]

Name Ideology 2016 result
Votes (%) Seats
CDU Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christian democracy 28.9%
554 / 1,920
SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany Social democracy 28.5%
554 / 1,920
AfD Alternative for Germany Right-wing populism 11.9%
223 / 1,920
Grüne Alliance 90/The Greens Green politics 11.3%
217 / 1,920
WG Voter Groups Localism 7.4%
142 / 1,920
FDP Free Democratic Party Classical liberalism 6.4%
120 / 1,920
Linke The Left Democratic socialism 3.5%
68 / 1,920
Others – 2.1%
42 / 1,920

Results

Party Votes  % Swing Seats +/-
Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) 658,826 28.5 Decrease 0.4 545 Decrease 9
Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) 555,528 24.0 Decrease 4.5 475 Decrease 79
Alliance 90/The Greens (GRÜNE) 426,331 18.4 Increase 7.1 343 Increase 126
Alternative for Germany (AfD) 160,246 6.9 Decrease 5.0 132 Decrease 91
Free Democratic Party (FDP) 155,240 6.7 Increase 0.3 123 Increase 3
Voter Groups (WG) 136,236 5.9 Decrease 1.5 115 Decrease 27
The Left (LINKE) 92,613 4.0 Increase 0.5 77 Increase 9
Free Voters (FW) 76,633 3.3 Increase 2.7 67 Increase 51
Die PARTEI 21,935 0.9 Increase 0.8 19 Increase 18
Volt Germany (Volt) 18,903 0.8 New 18 New
Pirate Party Germany (Piraten) 4,499 0.2 Decrease 0.5 4 Decrease 9
Alliance for Innovation and Justice (BIG) 2,421 0.1 New 3 New
National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) 1,797 0.1 Decrease 0.2 2 Decrease 3
Alliance C – Christians for Germany (Bündnis C) 746 0.0 New 3 New
Others 1,794 0.1 Increase 0.1 0 Decrease 7
Total 2,313,748 100.0 1,920
Blank/invalid votes 96,004 4.0
Registered voters/turnout 4,773,570 50.4 Increase 2.5
Source: Statistics Hesse

Results in independent cities

City CDU SPD Grüne AfD FDP Linke FW PARTEI Volt WG Others
Frankfurt am Main 21.9 17.0 24.6 4.5 7.6 7.9 0.8 1.8 3.7 6.5 3.7
Wiesbaden 23.5 20.3 21.4 6.5 10.4 6.2 2.5 0.8 3.8 3.5 1.1
Kassel 19.2 24.6 28.7 5.6 5.6 11.2 2.3 1.0 – 1.9 –
Darmstadt 15.6 16.7 27.4 4.6 5.6 7.4 1.9 2.1 6.9 11.8 –
Offenbach am Main 18.1 28.4 18.1 7.3 6.2 8.5 4.2 1.6 – 4.0 3.5

References

  1. ↑ "Local elections 2021". Hessian State Returning Officer. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  2. ↑ "Calendar of direct elections in Hesse". Hessian State Statistical Office. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  3. ↑ "§ 32 of the Hessian Municipal Code (HGO)". Justice Portal of North Rhine-Westphalia.
  4. 1 2 "Local elections 2021". Hessian State Returning Officer. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  5. ↑ "Direct election dates are postponed". Hessian State Returning Officer. Archived from the original on 6 March 2021. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  6. ↑ "§ 1 of the Hessian Municipal Code (HGO)". Justice Portal of North Rhine-Westphalia.
  7. ↑ "§ 82 of the Hessian Municipal Code (HGO)". Citizens' Service Hesse Law. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  8. ↑ "§ 25 of the Hessian District Code (HGO) – Number of district council members". Citizens' Service Hesse Law. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  9. ↑ "§ 38 of the Hessian Municipal Code (HGO)". Citizens' Service Hesse Law. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  10. ↑ "Final results of the local elections of 6 March 2016 – State of Hesse". Hessian State Statistical Office. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
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