Local elections on the East Frisian Islands: Mayoral elections on five islands, two without an election due to new elections last year

In the local elections in Lower Saxony this Sunday, new island mayors will also be elected on some East Frisian islands. Candidates for the office of town hall chief are up for election in Borkum, Juist, Norderney, Baltrum and Spiekeroog, as can be seen from the information provided by the cities and municipalities. They are each elected for a term of eight years.

However, there are no mayoral elections scheduled on two of the seven inhabited East Frisian Islands. Because there were early new mayoral elections in Langeoog and Wangerooge just last year. On Wangerooge, the parties even looked for a candidate through a job advertisement - and received almost 500 applications.

Who is running for election where?

Incumbent Jürgen Akkermann (independent) is running again on the largest East Frisian island of Borkum. He has been mayor there since 2019. There are no opposing candidates.

On Borkum's neighboring island of Juist, the previous town hall leader Tjark Goerges (independent) did not stand for re-election. Lawyer Stefan Görnert would like to take over the office. The CDU politician comes from Wermelskirchen in North Rhine-Westphalia. He is the only candidate for mayor.

Norderney's incumbent mayor Frank Ulrichs (independent) would like to be elected to the North Sea island's town hall executive chair for the third time. The administrative economist has been working for the city of Norderney for more than 30 years and has been mayor since 2011. The only opposing candidate on the island is Annette Pohl. The physiotherapist is running for the AfD.

Two applicants each on Baltrum and Spiekeroog

There are two candidates for mayor on the smallest East Frisian island of Baltrum. Incumbent Harm Olchers, who has been the island's mayor since 2020, is not running again. Applicants are the Baltrum hotelier Jann Bengen, who was nominated by the CDU, and the administrative specialist Oliver Schütte (independent).

Patrick Kösters (independent) would like to remain mayor on the island of Spiekeroog. The 48-year-old, who has been city hall boss since 2021, is running again. His only challenger is the lawyer Jürgen Thiel (independent) from Bad Oeynhausen (NRW).