Kunterbunt

Yes, Freiburg's new city council elected last Sunday is motley, although one color is dominant. Here are the results for those 18 parties, with 48 candidates each Red Baron had to choose from and vote for:

©BZ

As one would expect, the Greens gained two seats, but that is not all. For reasons unknown to me, Freiburg has the luxury of an Alternative Green party, i.e., GAF, somewhat greyish in the diagram. They jumped from one seat to three seats so that the environmentalists now have a total of 16 out of 48 seats in Freiburg's city council.

The eroding of the two Volksparteien CDU and SPD described in the previous blog is also noticed on the municipal level. In Freiburg, the CDU got the beating (minus three seats of nine in the city council) while the SPD lost "only" two of eight.

The Social Democrats also had more votes than the Christian Democrats. These are possible due to our young independent Lordmayor Martin Horn, who was and still is supported by the SPD, and Ulrich von Kirchbach (SPD). He is the mayor for social and cultural affairs, doing an excellent job, and is rather popular in Freiburg.

Positive was the turnout: 62,8% of the registered voters cast their votes compared to 51,4% in 2014, and there will be 23 female city councilors.

The right-wing populist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) will send two deputies (3.6% of the votes) into the city council for the first time. They had hoped for more. It clearly shows that green Freiburg is not a breeding ground for right-wing ideas.

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