Neubrandenburg chooses: Klose vs. Benischke - who will be?

Neubrandenburg chooses: Klose vs. Benischke - who will be?

Neubrandenburg, Deutschland - On May 25, 2025, the decision to make the mayor in Neubrandenburg will be made in a runoff election. The candidates are Nico Klose, a non -party individual candidate who is supported by the SPD and the Greens, and Frank Benischke from the CDU, the managing director of Neuwoges. Klose was able to achieve the most votes in the first round with 35.7 percent, while Benischke came to 24.6 percent. Since neither of the two candidates achieved the absolute majority, the runoff election is necessary to determine the new mayor. In the first round, a total of nine applicants took part in the race, including Jens Kreutzer from the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht, who took third place with 12.6 percent, followed by Tim Großmüller (9.4 %) and Ralph-Jörn Kurzour (7.5 %). Other candidates received less than 5 percent of the votes, including Olaf Schümann and Sascha Lübs, each received 4.6 and 2.5 percent, as well as Tobias Köhler and Stefan Schwabbauer, who stayed under 2 percent. These figures illustrate the variety of opinions among the Neubrandenburg citizens who are called again on May 25th.

Nico Klose sees his strengths near the citizens and plans to focus on the election campaign on subject topics. Among other things, he suggested the introduction of district representatives to better represent local concerns. Klose is also supported by the outgoing incumbent Silvio Witt, who has been in office since 2015 and received 87.5 percent of the vote in the last election. However, Witt has not actively involved in the current election campaign. Klose also brings experience as a mayor of the neighboring community of Neverin, where he has been working since 2019.

votes and strategies of the candidates

Frank Benischke, who landed in second place, emphasized the challenges with which Neubrandenburg is faced. He criticized Klose as the "continuation of the problems" by Witt and emphasized "bad communication with the city council". Benischke is aiming for investments in the city, including new schools and a swimming pool. Furthermore, he would also like to address candidates who did not get into the runoff election to ensure broader support.

In a particularly controversial point, there is a different opinion of the flags at the train station. Klose is committed to the rainbow flag, while Benischke prefers the German flag. This difference reflects the different views of the two candidates and could become a decisive topic in the election campaign.

upcoming election forum and elections in the region

Both candidates will meet on May 19 at a Nordkurier election forum, where they want to bring their programs closer to the citizens. The challenge for the new incumbent will be to meet the expectations of voters as well as to find future -oriented solutions for the city.

The election in Neubrandenburg is part of a number of mayor elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. This year elections were already taking place in Stralsund, and the citizens of Greifswald are on the turn of June 12th. In the coming years there will also be a choice in Schwerin for 2024 and in Rostock for 2026.

The developments in Neubrandenburg already suggest an exciting election campaign that will reach its preliminary highlight with the upcoming decisions on May 25th.