Pirate Lost Mayoral Election in Saarlouis, Germany

In Sunday’s mayoral election in Saarlouis, Germany, the Pirate candidate ended up with 3.2 % of the votes, losing to the incumbent mayor.

Pirate candidate Thomas Brockmann.
CC Thomas Brockmann.

The Pirate candidate was Thomas Brockmann, 50, a freelance journalist who was seeking to bring more transparency and citizen participation to Saarlouis. Brockmann also suggested city projects for the citizens, such as a public swimming pool.

Due to low funds, Brockmann’s campaign was much smaller than those of his opponents, costing about €1,000 in total. In comparison, Christian democrat candidate Marion Jost’s campaign cost €15,000, while incumbent mayor, social democrat Roland Henz spent €25,000.

Mayoral elections in Saarlouis have seen declining turnouts since the 1980′s, which the incumbent mayor acknowledged in a post earlier this week, in which he encouraged citizens to vote. At the Saarland state elections earlier this year (at which the Pirate Party gained four seats), only 61 % voted. The turnout at Sunday’s elections was a mere 43 % according to SR Online.

Featured image is CC BY Piratenpartei Deutschland.

About Anton Nordenfur

I'm a board member of the Swedish Pirate Party and editor here at Pirate Times. I'm primarily interested in research and education politics, and have a bilingual blog at anton.nordenfur.se. I currently live in Linköping where I study physics at the university.

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In Sunday’s mayoral election in Saarlouis, Germany, the Pirate candidate ended up with 3.2 % of the votes, losing to the incumbent mayor. The Pirate candidate was Thomas Brockmann, 50, a...