Overview
- Roughly ten million eligible voters will decide about 39,500 local offices, including mayors, district chiefs and municipal and county councils.
- High-profile mayoral races are tight in major cities, with Munich’s Dieter Reiter facing Dominik Krause and Clemens Baumgärtner, Nürnberg’s Marcus König challenged by Nasser Ahmed and Britta Walthelm, and competitive fields in Augsburg, Regensburg, Bamberg and Erlangen.
- Analysts expect the AfD to expand its presence in councils compared with 2020, while experts consider wins for AfD candidates in top executive posts unlikely.
- Bavaria’s complex ballots allow vote-splitting and cumulation, polls are open from 8:00 to 18:00, and counting for mayoral and district-chief races begins immediately after polls close.
- Local dynamics vary widely, with six candidates vying for the Munich district chief post including incumbent Christoph Göbel and crowded, open-seat races in the Freising area that are likely to require runoffs.