Severin Fischer: SPD candidate for Potsdam's mayor election!

Severin Fischer: SPD candidate for Potsdam's mayor election!

Erlangen, Deutschland - in Potsdam there is a change at the top: Severin Fischer, previously State Secretary in the Senate Department for Economy, is expected to be nominated as a SPD candidate for the office of mayor. This reports rbb24 from party groups. The 41-year-old-born in Erlanger has lived in Berlin since 2008 and has already brought plenty of experience, also as a former head of the Senate Chancellery from December 2021 to April 2023.

The official nomination by the SPD is scheduled to take place on July 5. The election of the new mayor of Potsdam will take place on September 21, 2025. If no absolute majority is reached in the first ballot, there will be a second round on October 12, as the Brandenburg Ministry of the Interior confirmed. Around 143,000 citizens of the city are entitled to vote. The deadline for submitting the election proposals ends on July 17th, whereby candidates without the current seat in the political committees need at least 112 supporter signatures.

The deselection of Mike Schubert

The previous incumbent Mike Schubert from the SPD was recently voted out. The reason for this was serious allegations for corruption and poor administration. In a citizens' decision on May 25, 36,230 Potsdam voted for his deselection, while 16,794 were against it. Schubert had previously also struggled with an investigation that was initiated against him in several cases due to benefit, but was ultimately discontinued. He now has to pay a total of 34,000 euros, including 20,000 euros to a non -profit organization and 14,046 euros to the state treasury to save his family the pressure of a legal process, such as the Berliner Kurier reported.

The investigation by the Neuruppin public prosecutor's office had shown that Schubert had adopted advantages in 67 cases by visiting Potsdam sports clubs in VIP areas for free since 2019. These activities often took place as part of a not clearly defined representative order. The ex-Mayor regretted that at the beginning of his term in 2018 he had not critically questioned the practice in dealing with invitations and apologized to those affected.

The political reactions and other candidates

The political parquet in Potsdam is currently exciting because the AfD has announced that it can set up Chaled-Uwe Said as its candidate. Competitive parties have so far not nominated any candidates. So it remains to be seen who will present themselves to the voters if the election proposals have to be submitted on July 17th.

The mayor Burkhard Exner from the SPD, who has been in office since May, has taken over the business on an interim basis, while the discussion about the future leadership of Potsdam continues. With Severin Fischer, the SPD could possibly bring a breath of fresh air to the city, which has been shaped by internal conflicts and scandals in the past few months.