Overview

• Polling stations are open from 8:00 to 18:00, with counting to begin immediately and first projections expected from about 18:30 to 19:00.
• By noon, turnout reached roughly 32 percent versus about 29 percent at the same point in 2020, alongside elevated postal voting such as nearly 33 percent requesting mail ballots in Cologne.
• Election‑day glitches were reported, including late openings in Dortmund with a police‑noted manipulated door lock, and a missing mayoral ballot in Bielefeld where about 80 affected voters will be visited at home to cast votes.
• Pre‑election polling suggested AfD gains compared with 2020, though the party fielded fewer candidates, including just 86 mayoral contenders in 373 district‑affiliated municipalities.
• Runoffs are scheduled for 28 September where no mayoral or district chief candidate wins a majority, with thousands of local mandates at stake and no electoral threshold for most councils except a 2.5 percent hurdle for the Ruhr parliament and some district bodies.