Daniel Zimmermann (born 3 May 1982 in Düsseldorf) is a German

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

, founder of the PETO party, and he has been the mayor of

Monheim am Rhein Monheim am Rhein (, ; ) is a town on the right (eastern) bank of the river Rhine in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Monheim belongs to the district of Mettmann – with the southern suburbs of Düsseldorf to the north, and the Bergisches Land to ...

since 21 October 2009. When elected, he was the youngest mayor in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Professional career

Zimmermann grew up as the son of a printing press technician and an administration clerk in Baumberg. From 1988 to 1992 he attended the Geschwister-Scholl-Grundschule (elementary school) in Baumberg. Then he advanced to the

Otto-Hahn-Gymnasium Europaschule Otto-Hahn-Gymnasium is a '' Gymnasium'' (high school) in Gifhorn, Lower Saxony, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to t ...

in Monheim, where he achieved Abitur in 2001. Afterwards he underwent civil service at the ''Biologische Station Urdenbacher Kämpe e.V.''. From 2002 to 2008 he studied French and Physics at the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne () is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in 1388. It closed in 1798 before being re-established in 1919. It is now one of the largest universities in Germany with around 45,187 students. The Universit ...

to become a teacher. In December 2008 he achieved the first

Staatsexamen The ("state examination" or "exam by state"; pl.: ''Staatsexamina'') is a German government licensing examination that future physicians, dentists, physical therapists, teachers, research librarians, archivists, pharmacists, food chemists, psyc ...

. At last he worked as a scientist at the ''Romanisches Seminar'' (seminar for Romance languages) at the university. He was a

tutor Tutoring is private academic help, usually provided by an expert teacher; someone with deep knowledge or defined expertise in a particular subject or set of subjects. A tutor, formally also called an academic tutor, is a person who provides assis ...

for the intermediate examination at the language-related sector of the subjects French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese and prepared his PhD-thesis.

Political career

In 1999, Zimmermann and four other teenagers founded the youth party '' PETO – Die junge Alternative'' (PETO - the young alternative). The name of the party refers to the Latin word '' peto'' (in English: „I postulate“). Zimmermann became first president of this new party until 2004. The party could rise its results continually. In 1999 they achieved 6 per cent and three seat in the city council and 2004 they improved this result with 16,6% and seven seats. In 2004 he belonged to the

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

, too. Five years earlier, he had not been allowed to run for office, because he was not yet 18 years old. He was president of the city council group of PETO until 2006. He has been president of the board which controls for the town-owned companies since 2005. During the Monheim am Rhein city Council election PETO achieved 29,56% of the votes and twelve seats in the city council, only 108 votes less than the biggest party CDU which gained twelve seats, too. During the mayor election which took place simultaneously, for which he was nominated as a candidate by his party in August 2008, Zimmermann gained 30,35% of the votes, which meant a

relative majority A plurality vote (in North American English) or relative majority (in British English) describes the circumstance when a party, candidate, or proposition polls more votes than any other but does not receive more than half of all votes cast. For ...

, enough to win, after the

two-round system The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...

had been abolished in 2007.

Works

* ''„Ich kann Bürgermeister!“: Mit 27 Jahren Deutschland jüngstes Stadtoberhaupt.'' Fackelträger-Verlag, Köln, .

External links

Homepage

hier und heute Reportage über Daniel Zimmermann auf einslive.de (German)

Bericht der WDR Lokalzeit Düsseldorf über Daniel Zimmmermann auf einslive.de (German)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmermann, Daniel Mayors of places in North Rhine-Westphalia Living people 1982 births Politicians from Düsseldorf University of Cologne alumni