This was largely regarded as backlash to the SPD's urban policies (Frankfurter Häuserkampf), primarily directed against land speculation in the city's west end and possible gentrification, also his predecessor Rudi Arndt (SPD) had been willing to dynamite the rubbish of the World War II ruins of the Alte Oper opera house to build a modern office building on the site instead.

CDU was also helped by local SPD's party donations' scandal, and Frankfurt suffering from a high crime rate, being dubbed as Bankfurt and Krankfurt (krank meaning sick in German) in the media.

[1] Between 1986 and 1987 he was the first Federal Minister for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.

He left the Federal Ministry for Environment to become the 5th Minister President of Hesse (1987–1991).

This biography article about a member of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) is a stub.