Excellently positioned, highly motivated, confident of victory: Each of the three major parties relevant to local politics, whether SPD, Greens or CDU, is convinced that they are well positioned for the marathon of mayoral elections that is about to begin.

Because in the first three months of this year the mayors will be re-elected in three major cities in Hesse and in the capital of Rhineland-Palatinate.

The mayoral elections in Mainz will start on February 12th, followed by the mayoral elections in Frankfurt on March 5th.

It then continues on a weekly basis: on March 12th in Kassel and on March 19th in Darmstadt.

Mechthild Harting

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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Markus Schug

Correspondent Rhein-Main-Süd.

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Since there are numerous candidates in all four cities - in Frankfurt there are 20, more than ever before in a mayoral election in the Main metropolis, in Kassel, on the other hand, only six, in Mainz seven and in Darmstadt in all probability twelve, the election committee will meet at the end of this week –, the next step will be a runoff election in one or the other city.

In Mainz it is scheduled for March 5th, Kassel and Frankfurt will follow on March 26th if necessary.

The runoff date in Darmstadt marks the end of this round of elections: in the science city, voters are to go to the polls again on April 2 if the result is not certain after the first ballot.

There is another special feature in the mayoral elections this spring: in Frankfurt, Darmstadt and Mainz, different people will wear the chain of office than before.

In Frankfurt, incumbent Peter Feldmann was voted out by the citizens in November.

At the time he was suspected of corruption, but he has since been found guilty by the Frankfurt district court.

A lot of ambition

The 60-year-old mayor of Darmstadt and Greens politician Jochen Partsch - the first Greens mayor of a major city in Hesse - after two terms in office, i.e. a total of twelve years, has let the public know that he envisions something else in his life beyond politics could.

And the SPD politician from Mainz, Michael Ebling, has been Minister of the Interior of Rhineland-Palatinate since October, having previously been Mayor of Mainz for ten years.

Different in Kassel.

In Hesse's third largest city, traditionally an SPD stronghold, incumbent Christian Geselle is back in office.

But since he has fallen out with the Kassel party leadership in recent months, he is running as an independent candidate on March 12 - alongside the official candidate of the Kassel SPD, Isabel Carqueville.

In the mayoral election in March 2017 Geselle and thus the SPD were able to win the election with 56.6 percent of the votes cast in the first ballot, the internal party disputes among the comrades give hope to the other parties, for the second time in history not a social democrat becomes mayor of the city.

"We have the ambition to win all three of the major cities in Hesse," says Mathias Wagner, leader of the Greens parliamentary group in the state parliament.

The chance is there.

After all, the Greens were the strongest forces in the local elections two years ago in Frankfurt, Darmstadt and Kassel.

Wagner is convinced that the mayoral elections for the Greens will be successful and will therefore be a “great start to the year of the state elections”.

The Greens have also set themselves a special goal for the state elections scheduled for October 8th: "After the city leaders in the three major cities of Hesse, we also want to appoint the prime minister."

(Not) an easy game

The SPD, which is currently the mayor of the other two major cities in Hesse – Wiesbaden and Offenbach – is no less self-confident.

"Everything is winnable," says General Secretary Christoph Degen.

"We are well positioned." After all, no other party in Hesse has as many mayors and district administrators as the SPD.

"We are very well anchored in the community." In Degen's own home district, the Main-Kinzig district, the district administrator will be voted on on January 29: "This election is a sure-fire success with SPD incumbent Thorsten Stolz."