Stadtwiki Baden‑Baden

2014 Mayoral Election

Baden-Baden elects Margret Mergen as its new Lord Mayor in the first round of voting

Postal voting documents for the 2014 mayoral election
Postal voting documents for the 2014 mayoral election
In the 2014 mayoral election in Baden-Baden, six candidates ran for the highest office in the spa town. Margret Mergen (CDU) won the election on Sunday, 16 March 2014, comfortably and with an absolute majority. A second election, which would otherwise have taken place on 30 March, was therefore not needed.[1] The incumbent Lord Mayor Wolfgang Gerstner did not stand again, citing personal reasons.

Election result

Once all 59 polling districts had been counted at 6:53 p.m. on 16 March, Mergen was the certain winner with more than 60 % of the vote. The final result differed from the provisional one by a further 117 votes. It was announced on 21 March:

[Margret Mergen](/en/personen/margret-mergen/) wins every polling district in the [2014 mayoral election](/en/politik-und-verwaltung/oberbuergermeisterwahl-2014/)
Margret Mergen wins every polling district in the 2014 mayoral election
Distribution of votes and turnout (41.46 %) in the [2014 mayoral election](/en/politik-und-verwaltung/oberbuergermeisterwahl-2014/)
Distribution of votes and turnout (41.46 %) in the 2014 mayoral election

Name

Votes

Share of votes

Margret Mergen

11,088

62.52 %

Michael Geggus

3,281

18.50 %

Rolf Pilarski

1,196

6.74 %

Horst Richter

1,047

5.90 %

Peter Rauch

741

4.18 %

Dr Volker Pilz

359

2.02 %

Others

23

0.13 %

17,836 voters, or 41.46 % of the 43,016 eligible voters, cast their ballots. 101 votes were invalid. The city had initially stated too high a number of eligible voters and consequently calculated too low a turnout. Mergen won the election with an absolute majority in the first round, so a second round of voting was not required.

The mayor’s office and the rules of the election

The municipal code of Baden-Württemberg (Gemeindeordnung) governs how municipalities are organised.[2] Section 42 of the code[3] sets out the legal position of the mayor and states, among other things, that the mayor chairs the municipal council, heads the municipal administration and represents the municipality. The mayor’s term of office is eight years. In urban districts and large district towns, the mayor holds the title of Lord Mayor.

In the 2014 mayoral election in Baden-Baden, citizens from the age of 16 were entitled to vote for the first time. Eligible voters received their polling card by 23 February 2014 at the latest. Each voter had one vote, which could be cast by post or at a polling station on election day. The order of the candidates on the ballot paper followed the order in which their applications had arrived: 1. Margret Mergen, 2. Horst Richter, 3. Michael Geggus, 4. Rolf Pilarski, 5. Peter Rauch and 6. Dr Volker Pilz. Voters could also write in a candidate who was not listed. The newly elected Lord Mayor was to take office on 10 June 2014.[4]

Candidates

  • Margret Mergen (* 1961, CDU) studied geography and began her career as a trainee with the city of Karlsruhe. She later served as city treasurer in Karlsruhe, as First Mayor in Heilbronn and as head of economic affairs and finance in Karlsruhe. Since September 2009 she has been First Mayor of the city of Karlsruhe. Website: margret-mergen.de
  • Horst Richter (* 1956, independent) trained as a bank clerk and studied economics. After holding senior positions in finance, he became self-employed in 2001. He has experience in the administration of large clinics as well as of major medium-sized companies and corporate groups. former website: richter2014.de
  • Michael Geggus (* 1955, SPD) trained as a bank clerk. Following civilian service and a degree in social work, he worked for Arbeiterwohlfahrt Baden. He later became managing director of a vocational training centre and then headed the training academy of the Karlsruhe Chamber of Crafts. Since November 2009 he has been Second Mayor of the city of Baden-Baden. former website: michael-geggus.de
  • Rolf Pilarski (* 1955, independent at the time of the election) trained as an industrial clerk (IHK). He then served twelve years as a soldier on a fixed-term commission. After qualifying as a state-certified business administrator, he worked in the paper industry and held various management positions. Since 2009 he has run an insurance company’s customer service office in Oos. former website: rolfpilarski.de
  • Peter Rauch (* 1959, independent) served an apprenticeship at a joinery in Oberbeuern. After military service he qualified as a master craftsman in his parents’ business, today’s Rauch CNC MANUFAKTUR GmbH & Co. KG. When his parents stepped back, he built the business up together with his brother and his wife into a successful supplier of medical technology accessories. former website: rauchonline.de
  • Dr Volker Pilz (* 1969, CDU) studied law, political science, constitutional, social and economic history as well as international and European law. In 2006 he received a doctorate in administrative sciences. He worked at the Federal Ministry of Finance, served as a research assistant to members of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag and was then an adviser on the executive staff of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. From 2009 he took over as managing director of the political umbrella organisation MEW Mittelständische Energiewirtschaft Deutschland e.V., a post he held until 2011. His CV goes on to list work as managing partner of WindUnion GmbH and the delivery of a project for the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.[5] The press cast doubt on these claims.[6][7] former website: volker-pilz.de

Chronology of the campaign

On 22 April 2013, a day after his 58th birthday, Wolfgang Gerstner unexpectedly announced that he would not run again in the 2014 mayoral election.[8] Horst Richter declared his candidacy at the end of April 2013.[9][10] For a long time he remained the only candidate, until Margret Mergen announced hers on 6 December 2013.[11] Richter handed in his application papers only after Mergen, on 9 December.[12] The FDP politician Patrick Meinhart took his time deciding whether to stand. On 20 December 2013 he announced that he would not.[13] The Greens, too, found no suitable candidate. On 2 January 2014, Michael Geggus and Rolf Pilarski announced their candidacies independently of one another.[14][15] Peter Rauch followed on 23 January 2014[16] and Dr Volker Pilz on 11 February.[17] The application deadline closed on 17 February.[18]

After Haupert, a Karlsruhe resident, had lavished praise on Mergen in a letter to the editor of the Badisches Tagblatt on 7 February[19], the Pirate Party attacked the letter as a sleight of hand by Mergen or her campaign team. Haupert, they pointed out, had already appeared in a campaign video for Mergen’s nomination for the Karlsruhe mayoral election. The Pirate Party suspected a staged PR move behind the letter.[20] In a telephone interview with goodnews4.de, Mergen said she had no need for tricks of that kind.[21]

On 14 February, the Badisches Tagblatt reported on possible inconsistencies in Pilz’s published CV. It emerged that Windunion GmbH, the wind energy company Pilz said he ran as managing partner, was not entered in the commercial register at all.[6] The Konrad Adenauer Foundation also confirmed to the newspaper that it would end the existing contractual relationship by mutual agreement on 31 March.[7] Speaking to goodnews4.de, Pilz explained that the entry in the imprint of the Windunion website had been an error: Windunion had been founded in 2011 as a GbR, a civil-law partnership, and had since been converted into a GmbH in formation. He had ended the cooperation with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation for personal reasons.[22] In his eyes, the Badisches Tagblatt had reported in a “tendentious manner”.[23] The paper countered that a GbR must carry the names of its partners in its company name, which made the designation Windunion GbR inadmissible.[6] Pilz declined to answer further questions from a Badisches Tagblatt editor, among them questions about a trade licence, the VAT ID of Windunion GbR and membership of an employers’ liability insurance association.[24] Those questions, he said, had nothing to do with his campaign.[25]

The CDU, which had at first favoured none of the candidates, came out for Margret Mergen as Wolfgang Gerstner’s successor once the official application deadline had passed. In the view of the CDU district executive, Mergen alone met the three criteria the party had set out ahead of the election: administrative experience, an ability to approach people well, and the option of being available for a second term of office.[26] Rolf Pilarski contradicted this and took the CDU to task in an open letter. It would have been more credible, fairer and more honest, he argued, if the CDU had simply owned up to its own party member. In his view, this was a rather unprofessional line of argument aimed at securing the CDU’s claim to power in the mayor’s office in Baden-Baden as well.[27] Pilarski also cast doubt on Mergen’s non-partisanship, saying she represented purely CDU interests[28].

On 1 March, Michael Geggus presented a 15-point programme that he hoped to put into practice if elected Lord Mayor.[29] The programme was also available on his website.

Rumours that Geggus’s campaign was being financed by third parties apparently surfaced in early March. Geggus countered them by disclosing his funding in detail. In a video interview with goodnews4.de he stressed that every cent of his campaign had been paid for by his family.[30]

The candidates introduced themselves from 7 p.m. on 10 March at an official candidate presentation in the Bénazetsaal of the Kurhaus (spa house).[31] The order in which they appeared had been drawn by lot in the municipal electoral committee on 18 February.[32] Peter Rauch opened the round, followed by Horst Richter, Rolf Pilarski, Margret Mergen, Volker Pilz and, last of all, Michael Geggus.[33] Each candidate had twelve minutes of speaking time to introduce themselves to the audience. Questions were then collected from the floor and answered within ten minutes. Candidates whose turn it was not waited outside the hall. The event drew great public interest, and the Bénazetsaal was filled to the last seat. In a non-representative survey by goodnews4.de immediately after the event, Rolf Pilarski and Margret Mergen, but also Michael Geggus, were named as promising candidates.[34] That picture matched the measured length of the applause after each candidate’s contribution.[35] All the speeches are available in full on goodnews4.de.[36]

References

  1. ↑ Official public notice of the city of Baden-Baden on the 2014 mayoral election, last available on goodnews4.de (no longer available in July 2026)
  2. ↑ Gemeindeordnung Baden-Württemberg, dejure.org, accessed 12 July 2026 (Archived)
  3. ↑ Gemeindeordnung Baden-Württemberg § 42, dejure.org, accessed 12 July 2026 (Archived)
  4. ↑ Mergen will Rathauschefin in Baden-Baden werden, inside-b.de (no longer available in July 2026)
  5. ↑ Lebenslauf Volker Pilz, goodnews4.de, accessed 12 July 2026 (possibly no longer the first version) (Archived)
  6. ↑6.1↑6.2↑6.3 Article Windunion: Keine GmbH, kein Park in the Badisches Tagblatt, 14 February 2014
  7. ↑7.1↑7.2 Article Stiftung und Volker Pilz trennen sich by Patrick Fritsch in the Badisches Tagblatt, 18 February 2014
  8. ↑ Wolfgang Gerstner kandidiert nicht mehr für das Amt des Oberbürgermeisters, Baden-Baden TV, 22 April 2013 (no longer available in July 2026) (Archived)
  9. ↑ Article Erster OB-Kandidat in Kurstadt in the Badisches Tagblatt, 25 April 2013
  10. ↑ Press release on Horst Richter’s candidacy, 30 April 2013 (no longer available online)
  11. ↑ Article Mergen kandidiert in the Badisches Tagblatt, 7 December 2013
  12. ↑ Horst Richter gab Bewerbungsunterlagen für OB-Wahl in Baden-Baden ab, goodnews4.de, 10 December 2013 (no longer available in July 2026) (Archived)
  13. ↑ Article Vor heißer Phase Bewerber-Duo im Rennen in the Badisches Tagblatt, 21 December 2013
  14. ↑ Article Zwei neue Bewerber in the Badisches Tagblatt, 3 January 2014
  15. ↑ Weiterer Kandidat für OB-Wahl in Baden-Baden, bo.de (Offenburger Tageblatt) (no longer available in July 2026) (Archived)
  16. ↑ Article Peter Rauch tritt bei OB-Wahl in Kurstadt an in the Badisches Tagblatt, 24 January 2014
  17. ↑ Article CDU-Mitglied Volker Pilz tritt an in the Badisches Tagblatt, 12 February 2014
  18. ↑ End of the application deadline, hitradio-ohr.de (no longer available in July 2026)
  19. ↑ Letter to the editor Gewinn und Verlust by Elisabeth M. Haupert in the Badisches Tagblatt, 7 February 2014
  20. ↑ Article Piraten: Kritik an Leserbrief pro Mergen in the Badisches Tagblatt, 10 February 2014
  21. ↑ Telephone interview OB-Kandidatin Margret Mergen antwortet den Piraten, goodnews4.de, February 2014 (no longer available in July 2026) (Archived)
  22. ↑ Telephone interview OB-Kandidat Volker Pilz wehrt sich, goodnews4.de, February 2014 (no longer available in July 2026) (Archived)
  23. ↑ Korrektur zum Telefoninterview von Volker Pilz, goodnews4.de, 20 February 2014 (no longer available in July 2026)
  24. ↑ Article OB-Kandidat verweigert Auskunft by Albert Noll in the Badisches Tagblatt, 26 February 2014
  25. ↑ OB-Kandidat Volker Pilz wehrt sich gegen sieben Fragen, goodnews4.de (no longer available in July 2026)
  26. ↑ Article CDU-Kreisvorstand für Mergen by Patrick Fritsch in the Badisches Tagblatt, 22 February 2014
  27. ↑ OB-Kandidat Pilarski sauer auf CDU, goodnews4.de, 24 February 2014 (no longer available in July 2026)
  28. ↑ OB-Kandidat Pilarski bezweifelt Mergens Überparteilichkeit, goodnews4.de, 15 March 2014 (no longer available in July 2026)
  29. ↑ Article Viel geplant für erste 555 Tage in the Badisches Tagblatt, 1 March 2014
  30. ↑ Video interview OB-Kandidat Geggus tritt Gerüchten entgegen, goodnews4.de, March 2014 (no longer available in July 2026)
  31. ↑ Announcement of the candidate presentation on kurhauscasino.de (no longer available online)
  32. ↑ Article Bewerber stellen sich vor in the Badisches Tagblatt, 8 February 2014
  33. ↑ Announcement of the order in which the candidates were to present themselves to the audience on 10 March (no longer available online)
  34. ↑ Opinion survey following the candidate presentation at the Kurhaus, goodnews4.de (no longer available in July 2026)
  35. ↑ The author’s own measurement of the applause
  36. ↑ Official candidate presentation in the Bénazet Hall, goodnews4.de (no longer available in July 2026) (Archived)
German original last checked on 12. July 2026
Automatically translated on 12. July 2026