Shock in Potsdam: Mayor Schubert voted out with 68.3%!

Shock in Potsdam: Mayor Schubert voted out with 68.3%!

Potsdam, Deutschland - On May 26, 2025, Mike Schubert, the mayor of Potsdam, was voted out with 68.3 percent of the vote. The citizens' decision, which took place on Sunday, recorded 36,228 votes for the deselection and 19,793 votes. This significantly exceeded the necessary quorum of 35,764 yes votes. The turnout was 37.2 percent of the approximately 143,000 citizens entitled to vote aged 16 and over. In the event of confirmation of the result by the Potsdam election committee on June 2, Schubert's term would be officially ended.

Schubert, who has been in office since 2018 and should have governed until 2026, has been exposed to numerous allegations in the past. All parties except the SPD demanded its resignation. Critical points included long waiting times in the citizen service, problems with the payment of housing benefit and personnel bottlenecks in the city administration. There were also disputes about savings because of the clammy city treasury.

incidents and public criticism

Especially in the focus of public criticism, there are allegations of a VIP ticket affair that Schubert accepted free tickets for sporting events. Although the public prosecutor hired a procedure for accepting benefits after Schubert had paid money requirements, the politician admitted that he had made himself vulnerable. Schubert himself expressed respect for the result of the vote and described his term as honor. However, his resignation was out of the question.

The citizens' decision represents an important tool of direct democracy in Germany. According to Wikipedia , citizens can decide on important questions of the local sphere of activity. Citizens' request and decisions have been introduced in Germany since 1956 and are now known in all federal states. In Potsdam this was used for the second time in history, after Horst Gramlich's first deselection in 1998.

look into the future

Political opponents of Schubert see the deselection as an opportunity for a fresh start in the city. In the next few weeks, the parties will plan the OB new election in autumn 2025 and are already looking for suitable candidates. Mayor Burkhard Exner (SPD) will take over the official business in an interim basis until a new mayor is elected. The Potsdam SPD-Co district association chief Thomas Bachmann described the situation as "difficult" and spoke of a necessary restart for the city.

The deselection is based on broad dissatisfaction with Schubert's management, which is also reflected in the vote on the citizens' decision. Potsdam enters a new political phase with a previous quorum of 25% of the eligible voters, which was exceeded by 464 votes with 36,228 votes. Now it remains to be seen how the situation will develop in the coming months.