Darmstadt's Lord Mayor Jochen Partsch (Greens) will not run for a third term.

He told journalists on Wednesday.

He wants to devote himself to new tasks again, but will remain active in local politics.

17 years ago, Partsch was elected the city's head of social affairs, and in 2011 he became the first green mayor of a large city in Hesse.

His term expires in 2023.

The Darmstadt Greens want to nominate their candidate for the election, which will take place in March 2023, at a district general meeting on June 7th.

The board wants to publish its proposal the week before.

Jochen Remert

Airport editor and correspondent Rhein-Main-Süd.

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The city's full-time department heads and the Greens faction informed Partsch on Monday about his withdrawal.

His decision had only personal reasons, he said on Wednesday.

The fact that his wife, the previous member of the Bundestag Daniela Wagner, contrary to all expectations, did not get a seat in the Bundestag in the most recent federal election is irrelevant.

Nevertheless, he had consulted with his family and his closest friends in the past few weeks.

"The decision was not easy for me," Partsch continued.

He emphasized: "I'm not in the least tired of office." At that time, he started to break up the encrustations in urban society.

After two electoral periods, a change is good in order not to create new encrustations.

Three civil movements at the beginning

"There's also nostalgia," he said.

"But renunciation is necessary to start something new."

Partsch recalled the three citizens' movements that existed at the beginning of his tenure.

Parents would have asked for better childcare, others rejected the north-east bypass and a museum on the Mathildenhöhe.

Today, Darmstadt is one of the five cities in Germany with the best child care.

The north-east bypass is off the table, as is the museum on the Mathildenhöhe - if this had been realized, the application for World Heritage status would not have been successful, says Partsch.

The Lord Mayor, who consistently cycles to work and covers longer distances in the city by bus and tram, is proud of the traffic turnaround in Darmstadt.

In the meantime, almost all heads of department have switched to bicycles, and the network of cycle paths and local transport have been significantly expanded.

The mayor is also proud of the city's economic power.

Between 2016 and 2021, more than 10,000 new jobs were created through the relocation of companies.

Darmstadt has now become one of the fastest growing municipalities in Germany.

But why does Partsch want to stop despite all this?

"Everyone has a limited lifetime," he says.

In politics, you shouldn't take yourself too seriously.

40 years ago, Partsch was one of the co-founders of the Greens in his hometown of Bad Kissingen.

He comes from a CSU-oriented family.

The fact that he was sometimes shouted at from the edge of the field on the soccer field: "Get out the green communist sow" never affected his conviction.

He has gained a certain armor against criticism below the belt.

"There are things that annoy me but don't really hurt me," he says.

"If you can't stand the heat in the kitchen, you shouldn't be a chef."

Possible candidate open

In a first reaction to Partsch's decision not to stand in the elections a third time, Hildegard Förster-Heldmann, spokeswoman for the Darmstadt Greens and member of the state parliament, expressed confidence that the candidate that the Greens will enter next year's race for the send a successor, has a good chance of becoming mayor.

Förster-Heldmann did not want to commit to one person on Wednesday.

There are several that are suitable.

She also left unanswered the question of whether the Greens would nominate a woman.

In a joint statement by Förster-Heldmann and her Darmstadt co-chairman Andreas Ewald, Partsch said: "We show him great respect for this decision and support him in it."

Due to his "assertive and courageous manner" Darmstadt has developed enormously in all political fields over the past eleven years.

The Darmstadt Greens wanted to build on this in the years to come.

"We gladly accept the responsibility that this decision entails."