Kiel: Former Tagesschau spokesperson could become mayor – runoff against the Greens

In the mayoral election in Kiel, CDU candidate Gerrit Derkowski took the lead and advanced to the second round alongside Green Party candidate Samet Yilmaz. According to the city, Derkowski was at 28.7 percent, Yilmaz at 24.8 percent.

SPD candidate Ulf Daude followed behind with 23.3 percent. However, as no candidate achieved the required absolute majority in the first round of voting, the top two politicians must now take part in a second round of voting in three weeks’ time (7 December).

A total of eight male and one female candidates participated in the election. Incumbent mayor Ulf Kampfer (SPD) is not seeking re-election after two terms in office. He will enter the world of state politics after handing over office in April 2026.

A total of 190,779 Kiel residents are eligible to vote. According to the city government, voter turnout was 48.7 percent. However, in the last mayoral election in Kiel in 2019, only 37.9 percent of those eligible to vote cast their ballots.

For the SPD, the results of the first round ended the 16-year term that the mayor had always been given. The CDU last held the executive seat at Kiel City Hall between 2003 and 2009, while the Green Party never held it.

Derkowski, nominated by both the CDU and the FDP, is a career changer in politics. The 56-year-old is a television journalist and has long worked as a presenter for Norddeutscher Rundfunk and the ARD news department. He was part of the speaking team for the “Tagesschau”, among others.

Yilmaz is one of the leaders of the Green Party group in the Kiel council and, among other things, his party’s special spokesperson for regulatory and migration policy. The 44-year-old previously worked, among other things, as head of department at the Schleswig-Holstein State Office for the Protection of the Constitution.