Die Zeit53 minutes agoPolitics1 min readGermany

Green Mayor: Belit Onay on opportunities and challenges

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Belit Onay, Hanover's first Green mayor since 2019, speaks in the run-up to the local elections in Lower Saxony about re-election, his party's successes and setbacks in other cities and the question of whether Greens can win town halls more easily than hold them.

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Why It Matters

Belit Onay has been mayor of Hanover since 2019 and is the first Green to hold this office. The local elections in Lower Saxony will take place on September 13th. The party lost office in other cities such as Freiburg, Stuttgart and Bonn, while a Green mayor was elected for the first time in Munich.

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On the way to the meeting with Belit Onay we see him everywhere, his face is on every other campaign poster. Local elections will take place in Lower Saxony on September 13th. Onay wants to remain mayor.

DIE ZEIT: Mr. Onay, you have been Hanover's first green mayor since 2019. This year you got a colleague in Munich, and there is also a green mayor there for the first time. But in other cities – Freiburg, Stuttgart, Bonn – your party lost office again. Are Greens winning town halls more easily than they can keep them?

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