Gelsenkirchen, with a significant Romanian and Bulgarian community, is becoming the center of a political crisis that is affecting the popularity of the SPD, while the AfD is gaining ground.

In Gelsenkirchen, a city with a large community of Romanians and Bulgarians, migration has become a central topic in the electoral campaign, generating social tensions. Almost 12,000 migrants from these countries live here, most having precarious jobs or being dependent on social assistance. The SPD, currently in power, is trying to address voters' dissatisfaction through measures to improve living conditions, but the results are slow. Structural problems, such as poverty and lack of housing, continue to affect the community, and government solutions will only be seen in the long term.