Hannover's mayoral contest will be decided in a runoff in two weeks, according to NDR.de. The election took place as part of Lower Saxony's local elections, and no candidate secured an outright win in the first round.
Incumbent mayor Belit Onay cleared the first stage of his bid for re-election, the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung (HAZ) reported. A separate Spiegel report described the result as a victory for the Green Party's candidate for the city's top office, while noting the race remains undecided.
The runoff means campaigning will continue in Hannover, NDR.de reported.
Voting patterns across the city varied by district. HAZ reported that the Greens strengthened their strongholds in central areas of Hannover, while the Social Democrats (SPD) performed well mainly on the city's edges.
The results fit a broader pattern in the state. Tagesspiegel described the outcome in Hannover and Wolfsburg as a triumph for sitting officeholders, with incumbents prevailing in both cities.
Attention now turns to the second round of voting in Hannover, scheduled for two weeks after the initial ballot, where the remaining candidates will compete for the mayor's office.