Editing Solingen (section)

==Politics==
===Mayor===
The people of Solingen have been able to elect a council and a mayor since 1374, the year the town was granted its charter. The mayor changed annually on 24 June. Solingen has had a mayor since 1896. During the [[Nazi era]] (1933–1945), the mayor was appointed by the [[NSDAP]] and not democratically elected by the people of Solingen.

After the Second World War, the military government of the British occupation zone appointed a [[Lord Mayor]]. From 1946, the Solingen City Council elected an honorary Lord Mayor and a full-time Lord Mayor from among its members. Until 1997, the honorary lord mayors had mainly representative functions, while the full-time lord mayors were the chief administrative officers of the city of Solingen. In 1997, the dual leadership of the city administration was abolished. Since then there has been only one full-time Lord Mayor. He is the chairman of the council, the head of the city administration and the first representative of the city. Since 1999, the Lord Mayor has been directly elected by the electorate in a secret ballot.

The current mayor of Solingen is Tim Kurzbach of the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party]] (SPD), elected in 2015 and re-elected in 2020. The most recent mayoral election was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows:

{{election table}}
! colspan=2| Candidate
! Party
! Votes
! %
|-
| {{party color cell|Social Democratic Party of Germany}}
| align=left| Tim Kurzbach
| align=left| [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party]]
| 31,836
| 55.4
|-
| {{party color cell|Christian Democratic Union of Germany}}
| align=left| Carsten Heinrich Becker
| align=left| [[Christian Democratic Union of Germany|Christian Democratic Union]]
| 15,776
| 27.4
|-
| {{party color cell|Free Democratic Party (Germany)}}
| align=left| Raoul Torben Brattig
| align=left| [[Free Democratic Party (Germany)|Free Democratic Party]]
| 2,869
| 5.0
|-
| {{party color cell|Alternative for Germany}}
| align=left| Andreas Lukisch
| align=left| [[Alternative for Germany]]
| 2,499
| 4.3
|-
| {{party color cell|The Left (Germany)}}
| align=left| Adrian Scheffels
| align=left| [[The Left (Germany)|The Left]]
| 2,172
| 3.8
|-

| 
| align=left| Jan Michael Lange
| align=left| Citizens' Association for Solingen
| 1,624
| 2.8
|-
| 
| align=left| Arnold Falkowski
| align=left| Free Citizens' Union
| 700
| 1.2
|-
! colspan=3| Valid votes
! 57,476
! 99.1
|-
! colspan=3| Invalid votes
! 523
! 0.9
|-
! colspan=3| Total
! 57,999
! 100.0
|-
! colspan=3| Electorate/voter turnout
! 126,301
! 45.9
|-
| colspan=5| Source: [https://www.wahlergebnisse.nrw/kommunalwahlen/2020/aktuell/b122000kw2000.shtml State Returning Officer]
|}

===City council===
[[File:2020 Solingen City Council election.svg|thumb|350px|Results of the 2020 city council election]]
The Solingen city council governs the city alongside the mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows:

{{election table}}
! colspan=2| Party
! Votes
! %
! +/−
! Seats
! +/−
|-
| {{party color cell|Christian Democratic Union of Germany}}
| align=left| [[Christian Democratic Union of Germany|Christian Democratic Union]] (CDU)
| 17,326
| 30.2
| {{decrease}} 3.9
| 16
| {{decrease}} 1
|-
| {{party color cell|Social Democratic Party of Germany}}
| align=left| [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party]] (SPD)
| 16,229
| 28.3
| {{decrease}} 1.3
| 15
| ±0
|-
| {{party color cell|Alliance 90/The Greens}}
| align=left| [[Alliance 90/The Greens]] (Grüne)
| 10,428
| 18.2
| {{increase}} 7.0
| 9
| {{increase}} 3
|-
| {{party color cell|Free Democratic Party (Germany)}}
| align=left| [[Free Democratic Party (Germany)|Free Democratic Party]] (FDP)
| 3,178
| 5.5
| {{increase}} 0.6
| 3
| ±0
|-
| {{party color cell|Alternative for Germany}}
| align=left| [[Alternative for Germany]] (AfD)
| 2,892
| 5.0
| {{increase}} 2.1
| 3
| {{increase}} 1
|-
| {{party color cell|The Left (Germany)}}
| align=left| [[The Left (Germany)|The Left]] (Die Linke)
| 2,435
| 4.2
| {{decrease}} 0.7
| 2
| {{decrease}} 1
|-
| 
| align=left| Citizens' Association for Solingen (BfS)
| 1,842
| 3.2
| {{decrease}} 1.1
| 2
| ±0
|-
| {{party color cell|Die PARTEI}}
| align=left| [[Die PARTEI]] (PARTEI)
| 1,367
| 2.4
| New
| 1
| New
|-
| 
| align=left| Alternative Citizens' Initiative (ABI)
| 635
| 1.1
| New
| 1
| New
|-
| colspan=7 bgcolor=lightgrey|
|-
| 
| align=left| Free Citizens' Union (FBU)
| 531
| 0.9
| {{decrease}} 0.5
| 0
| {{decrease}} 1
|-
| 
| align=left| Solingen Active (Aktiv)
| 417
| 0.7
| {{decrease}} 0.7
| 0
| {{decrease}} 1
|-
| {{party color cell|Independent politician}}
| align=left| Independents
| 34
| 0.1
| –
| 0
| –
|-
! colspan=2| Valid votes
! 57,314
! 98.8
!
!
!
|-
! colspan=2| Invalid votes
! 695
! 1.2
!
!
!
|-
! colspan=2| Total
! 58,009
! 100.0
!
! 52
! ±0
|-
! colspan=2| Electorate/voter turnout
! 126,301
! 45.9
! {{increase}} 2.2
!
!
|-
| colspan=7| Source: [https://www.wahlergebnisse.nrw/kommunalwahlen/2020/aktuell/a122000kw2000.shtml State Returning Officer]
|}