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Cologne is voting: 13 candidates for mayor have been chosen!
On September 14th, the people of Cologne will elect a new mayor. 13 candidates are available, including major parties.
Cologne is voting: 13 candidates for mayor have been chosen!
On July 16, 2025, preparations for the local and integration council elections on September 14 are in full swing in Cologne. The election committee gave the green light for an exciting election and received a total of 1,945 nominations. Of these, 1,822 were recognized as valid after thorough examination. Particularly interesting is the list of 13 approved candidates for the office of mayor, which covers a wide spectrum and includes both candidates from major parties and independent candidates.
On that date, the voters in Cologne will not only decide on the new mayor, but also on the composition of the city council, which has 90 seats, as well as on the district representatives and the integration council. What’s special about it? If no candidate achieves an absolute majority of 50 percent in the mayoral election, the runoff election will take place on September 28th.
Election statistics in focus
The issue of voter participation is important in this context. Voter turnout in the last runoff election was only 39 percent. In the first round, 40.8 percent of the approximately 712,000 eligible voters preferred to cast their vote. The numbers show that the people of Cologne are definitely interested in political decision-making processes, although there is always room for improvement.[Statistics portal]
The new mayor, Fritz Schramma from the CDU, faced the challenge of narrowly missing an absolute majority in the last election. In the first round he received 47.3 percent of the vote. This was a significant success for his party, especially after the CDU took over the mayor's office from the SPD after 43 years. The predecessor in office, Harry Blum, had previously died, which made the new election necessary and secured Schramma a wafer-thin majority in the city council.
The Challenges of Incumbency
With 43 seats, the CDU is in an area of tension between the parties. Schramma has to deal with the SPD (29 seats), the Greens (15 seats) and other less represented parties. The political landscape in Cologne remains dynamic, and it will be exciting to see how conditions develop in the city council. Political decisions and the implementation of election promises will shape the political climate at a time when citizens are seeking change more than ever.
The upcoming elections not only promise exciting candidates and numerous options for voters, but also a great deal of commitment from political scientists and election observers. Cologne is facing a landmark election that could have a decisive impact on the city's political future.[Tixio][RP Online]