Editing Essen (section)

=== Mayor ===
The current mayor of Essen is [[Thomas Kufen]] of the [[Christian Democratic Union of Germany|Christian Democratic Union]] (CDU), who was 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
! %
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Christian Democratic Union of Germany}}|
| align=left| [[Thomas Kufen]]
| align=left| [[Christian Democratic Union of Germany|Christian Democratic Union]]
| 115,415
| 54.3
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Social Democratic Party of Germany}}|
| align=left| Oliver Kern
| align=left| [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party]]
| 43,093
| 20.3
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Alliance 90/The Greens}}|
| align=left| Mehrdad Mostofizadeh
| align=left| [[Alliance 90/The Greens]]
| 25,924
| 12.2
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Alternative for Germany}}|
| align=left| Harald Parussel
| align=left| [[Alternative for Germany]]
| 12,695
| 6.0
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}|
| align=left| Daniel Kerekeš
| align=left| [[The Left (Germany)|The Left]]
| 5,414
| 2.5
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Die PARTEI}}|
| align=left| Annie Maria Tarrach
| align=left| [[Die PARTEI]]
| 5,168
| 2.4
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Free Democratic Party (Germany)}}|
| align=left| Karlgeorg Raimund Krüger
| align=left| [[Free Democratic Party (Germany)|Free Democratic Party]]
| 4,200
| 2.0
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|German Communist Party}}|
| align=left| Peter Köster
| align=left| [[German Communist Party]]
| 546
| 0.3
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|National Democratic Party of Germany}}|
| align=left| Detlef Albert Fergeé
| align=left| [[National Democratic Party of Germany|National Democratic Party]]
| 232
| 0.1
|-
! colspan=3| Valid votes
! 212,687
! 99.1
|-
! colspan=3| Invalid votes
! 1,861
! 0.9
|-
! colspan=3| Total
! 214,548
! 100.0
|-
! colspan=3| Electorate/voter turnout
! 446,384
! 48.1
|-
| colspan=5| Source: [https://www.wahlergebnisse.nrw/kommunalwahlen/2020/aktuell/b113000kw2000.shtml State Returning Officer]
|}