Badenschier is leaving, Ehlers and Pfeifer are fighting for Schwerin's future!

Badenschier is leaving, Ehlers and Pfeifer are fighting for Schwerin's future!

In an eventful meeting of the city council on Monday, Mayor Dr. Rico Badenschier was ceremonially farewelled by Mayor Sebastian Ehlers. Badenschier will be stepping down from office at the end of the year, which poses exciting challenges for the political landscape in Schwerin. The new mayoral election is scheduled for April 12, 2026, and nominations can already be submitted. Ehlers himself is one of the candidates who are speculating on Badenschier's successor, alongside Heiko Steinmüller, Petra Federau and the newly nominated Mandy Pfeifer, who is running as a joint candidate for the SPD and the Left [Tagesschau.de].

Numerous challenges characterized Badenschier's term of office, which Sebastian Ehlers discussed more than once in his speech. The corona pandemic was just one of many crises that Badenschier mastered - a hacker attack on the administration and the effects of the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine were other construction sites that the city had to deal with. The density of crises in particular requires city representatives to have a good hand in political work.

A review and an outlook

Ehlers praised Badenschier's commitment to refugee movements and the impact on urban society. “The financial budget situation has influenced many of our decisions in recent years,” emphasized Ehlers and also named important development lines, such as improving public infrastructure and bicycle-friendly measures. The city is particularly proud of its first bicycle street, which was inaugurated at the end of 2024. But not all projects, such as the World Heritage issue, could be implemented without any problems.

As a particularly dignified gesture, Ehlers presented Badenschier with a book about running routes as a farewell gift, which was not only seen as a nice farewell, but also with a certain ambiguity. Badenschier himself thanked him warmly for the cooperation and spoke openly about the personal burdens he experienced due to political majority conditions. At the same time, he indicated that he wanted to be more active in his medical profession again and emphasized the need for sustainable structures for the city, independent of individual people.

The upcoming elections

The upcoming local elections in Germany, including the election of the mayor in Schwerin, are of great importance for the citizens. The Basic Law stipulates that local elections must be general, direct, free, equal and secret, as explained on bpb.de. In Schwerin, voters have the opportunity to submit further applications to the electoral authority until January 27, 2026.

Badenschier's departure initiates the transition phase until the mayoral election in the spring - a new phase for the city that is fraught with many expectations and challenges. The candidates have already outlined their positions on Schwerin's future development, and it remains to be seen which of them can win the trust of the electorate to steer the city's fortunes in the coming years.