After months of discussions about the political future of the Frankfurt mayor, the decision is imminent.

On Sunday, the citizens of the Main metropolis have the opportunity to vote in the polling stations from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

"Are you voting for the removal of the Lord Mayor of the City of Frankfurt am Main, Mr. Peter Feldmann?" That is the question on the ballot paper, which has "yes" and "no" as possible answers.

Because counting from 6 p.m. is very easy this time, unlike in a local election with accumulation and variance, a quick result is expected.

513,000 Frankfurters are entitled to vote, including Germans and citizens of other EU countries.

Peter Feldmann is voted out if two conditions are met: The majority of those who take part in the election must vote in favour.

At the same time, however, the group of those who vote against him must make up at least 30 percent of those entitled to vote.

So about 154,000 yes votes are needed.

This hurdle is intended to prevent city leaders from losing their office even if only a very small number of voters take part in the referendum.

Process for accepting an advantage

The question of the mayor's political future has been discussed again and again in the city council.

On July 14, the vote-out procedure was initiated, which provides for the referendum on November 6.

In July, 67 of the 93 city councilors voted in favor of this approach.

Feldmann's critics point to the court case in which the mayor is accused of accepting an advantage, a sexist comment about the flight attendants during the flight to Eintracht's European Cup match in Seville in May and his behavior during the victory celebrations when he coached and captained the trophy snatched.

The mayor's defense attorneys argue that his political future should only be decided after the district court's verdict.

He also has considerable merits in municipal social policy.

How the vote ends is completely open.

Because participation is more important than in other elections, it would be important to find out how many Frankfurters have already voted by post.

However, these figures are not published by the city administration.

In contrast to, for example, federal elections, there are by no means large numbers of surveys.

Great interest in the referendum

A single was released this week.

It was developed by the opinion research institute INSA-Consulere at the instigation of an initiative by the FDP politician Nicola Beer, which, however, had only surveyed 500 Frankfurters, partly by telephone and partly online.

In last week's survey, 29 percent said they had already voted by post, and another 24 percent said they planned to do so.

The survey shows that there is great interest in the referendum - 61 percent definitely want to take part, another 19 percent probably - but on the other hand that the opinion picture indicates a tendency but does not point completely in one direction.

In the survey, 52 percent answered the question of whether Feldmann should be voted out with "Yes, absolutely" and another 20 percent with "Yes, rather".