Cologne has new elections: Berivan Aymaz is fighting for the mayoralty!

Cologne has new elections: Berivan Aymaz is fighting for the mayoralty!

The local elections in Cologne on September 14, 2025 are casting their shadows. Wolfgang Niedecken, known from the Cologne music scene, remembers the election, which bathed the country predominantly in a black and yellow light - with exceptions in Cologne and Münster. The AfD was able to record gains here, but the majority in the city council remains left of center. In the upcoming mayoral runoff election on September 28th, Berivan Aymaz from the Greens and Torsten Burmester from the SPD will face each other.

Berivan Aymaz, who achieved a strong result with 28.1 percent of the votes in the first round, could become the first Green mayor of a German metropolis. Torsten Burmester follows him with 21.3 percent. As t-online reports, Burmester has secured the support of the losing CDU candidate. And while the Greens can celebrate a clear victory in the council election, the CDU is faced with a loss of votes of 1.6 percent and is only just behind the SPD in third place.

Political landscape and voter sentiment

The political mood in Cologne is tense. After all, 69 percent of those eligible to vote show a strong interest in the upcoming local elections, but 29 percent also express less or no interest. In addition to this mood, satisfaction with the living conditions in the city is high: 75 percent of people rate them positively. The guarantee of security and order is particularly valued, while the condition of schools and daycare centers still has a lot of room for improvement.

The Greens have the largest share of voters in Cologne, as WDR points out. With 25 percent in the council election, the Greens received almost twice as many votes as in North Rhine-Westphalia as a whole. Nevertheless, the party is also under pressure as board conflicts in the council alliance made up of the Greens, CDU and Volt became apparent during the election phase. The CDU, under the leadership of Serap Güler, could even consider going into opposition.

The challenges of the city

Cologne's mayor Henriette Reker has been governing in alliance with the Greens and the CDU for ten years, but is leaving her hat behind in this election. Her time in office is viewed critically by the population. The traffic situation, the housing market and the lack of cleanliness are particularly criticized, a topic that even comedian Carolin Kebekus took up when she compared Cologne to “German Naples”. This assessment leads to a lively discussion about the appearance of the city, which is suffering despite a large influx of tourists and a young population.

The Cologne administration is considered independent of the elections, but critical voices are still buzzing in the background about the planned renovations and renaming of playgrounds. The scandal surrounding the renovation of the opera and theater, the costs of which are now higher than those of the Elbphilharmonie, also received particular attention. The challenges in Cologne are numerous, and the coming elections could set a decisive course for the future development of the city.

Now the question is whether voters will accept Aymaz and Burmester's new offer or whether the call for change will become louder. What remains undisputed, however, is that the people of Cologne are very attached to their lifestyle and should have a good knack for making the right choice, especially in times of change.