Peter Feldmann voted out as mayor of Frankfurt

“Are you voting for the deselection of the mayor of the city of Frankfurt am Main, Mr. Peter Feldmann?” More than half a million eligible voters in the Main metropolis should answer this question on Sunday. The result is clear: well over 90 percent of voters answered the question with “yes”. The vote is likely to go down in local politics history.

However, the referendum not only required a majority of the valid votes, but according to the Hessian municipal code, this majority also had to be at least 30 percent of those entitled to vote. That quorum was reached at around 7:40 p.m. At that point, it was clear that more than 155,000 Frankfurt residents voted to have Feldmann voted out. This was not a matter of course, as turnout in local elections is often low.

Part of the AWO scandal

In a quick official statement, Feldmann admitted his defeat. His last day at work will be Friday. “Even if I’m no longer mayor, I will get involved as a Frankfurter,” he announced and thanked his supporters for the time. There weren’t many of those left in Frankfurt. In the Römer, Frankfurt City Hall, Feldmann had a three-quarters majority against him, namely an alliance of the governing coalition of the Greens, FDP, Volt and “his” SPD and the CDU.

Feldmann has been under massive criticism for a year and a half and hasn’t left a blunder. In the spring, even his own party, the SPD, turned away from him. At its core, it is about allegations of corruption. Since mid-October, criminal proceedings have been going on against him in front of the large white collar crimes chamber at the district court in Frankfurt, which is difficult to reconcile with a reasonable conduct of office, if only because of the days of the hearing. If convicted, he faces a fine or up to three years in prison. Feldmann vehemently denies all allegations made.

Eight years ago, his partner at the time and now his wife Zübeyde Feldmann, from whom he now lives separately, was the director of a German-Turkish day-care center Workers’ Welfare (AWO) become. The AWO, for which Feldmann also worked before his election as mayor in 2012, gave her a salary that was significantly higher than the collective bargaining agreement and a company car without any objective reason. According to the Frankfurt public prosecutor’s office, she is said to have received both the position and the privileges because of Feldmann’s position as mayor and with his knowledge.

Peter Feldmann’s political life

In the election campaign for his re-election in 2018, the AWO also supported Peter Feldmann by soliciting donations. In return, he is said to have agreed – like a tacit agreement – ​​with those responsible for the AWO at the time that he would take the interests of the organization into account in a benevolent manner when carrying out his duties. The Feldmann affair is also part of the scandal surrounding the southern Hessian AWO local branches in Frankfurt and Wiesbaden, which, among other things, deals with self-enrichment, grossly inflated salaries, as well as embezzlement and fraud.

Sexism and cup “steal”

There have been numerous embarrassments in recent months. On the flight to a European Cup away game from Eintracht Frankfurt, he said during a speech to the fans traveling with him that the flight attendants had “hormonally put him out of action at the beginning”, which many observers rated as flawless sexism. When the footballers later won the European Cup, Feldmann snatched the trophy from them in front of the camera in the aisle of the town hall so that he could show it to the fans himself. And he recently offered Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko a town twinning, contrary to a resolution to the contrary by parliament.

On Sunday evening, the representatives of numerous parties were pleased and relieved that Feldmann had been voted out of office. The tablecloth between him and Parliament had long been cut. If the referendum had gone in his favour, if only by missing the quorum, he could have made life difficult for the city administration. Although he does not have the authority to set guidelines, as in the federal government, the mayor has a number of rights that he can exercise without the consent of the magistrate. Frankfurt is now avoiding this unworthy spectacle.

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