Karl Kobelt duly elected mayor

Karl Kobelt of the FDP has been elected mayor of the city, meaning that a representative of a more centrist party is to lead the council for the first time after 12 years in which Dolfi Müller of the SP party has been at the helm.

In the initial round of voting, Kobelt, the councillor responsible for finance, achieved 2,405 votes, with fellow councillor Vroni Straub of the CSP party achieving 1,974.

André Wicki of the SVP party enjoyed support from 1,634, with Rupan Sivaganesan of the SP achieving 901 votes, and Urs Raschle of the CVP party 852.

These latter three then pulled out of a second round, leaving the contest between 59-year-old Kobelt and 55-year-old Straub. In this, the CVP and SVP parties supported Kobelt (on the left in the photograph), while the SP and ALG parties supported Straub (in the centre). This ended in a clear victory for Kobelt with 4,424, Straub achieving 3,265 votes. With Müller (on the right) standing down, she now remains the only representative of a left-wing party on the core city council.

Over in Steinhausen, Hans Staub of the CVP party (second photograph) was elected mayor defeating his opponent Esther Rüttimann of the FDP party by just 17 votes in the second round.