Lünen () is a town with around inhabitants in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located north of Dortmund, on both banks of the River Lippe. It is the largest town of the Unna district and part of the Ruhr Area.
In 2009 a biogas plant was built to provide electric power to the city. Lünen is the first city in the world to receive electricity via public utility companies that is generated on the base of animal waste. The plant produces up to 6.6 MW, supplying homes with heat and electricity.
Structure
Museum
Theatre
The current mayor of Lünen is Martina Förster-Teutenberg of the Social Democratic Party since November 2025.
Previous mayoral election was held on 13 September 2020, with a runoff held on 27 September, and the results were as follows:
! rowspan=2 colspan=2| Candidate ! rowspan=2| Party ! colspan=2| First round ! colspan=2| Second round |- ! Votes ! % ! Votes ! % |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Rainer Schmeltzer | align=left| Social Democratic Party | | 40.9 | 9,824 | 48.9 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Jürgen Kleine-Frauns | align=left| Independent | 9,767 | 36.7 | | 51.1 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Christoph Tölle | align=left| Christian Democratic Union | 4,341 | 16.3 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Sascha Gottwald | align=left| Free Voters Lünen | 1624 | 6.1 |- ! colspan=3| Valid votes ! ! 97.7 ! 20,106 ! 98.9 |- ! colspan=3| Invalid votes ! 641 ! 2.3 ! 215 ! 1.1 |- ! colspan=3| Total ! ! 100.0 ! ! 100.0 |- ! colspan=3| Electorate/voter turnout ! ! 41.1 ! 66,247 ! 30.7 |- | colspan=7| Source: City of Lünen (1st round, 2nd round)
The Lünen 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:
! colspan=2| Party ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Social Democratic Party (SPD) | 9066 | 33.9 | 7.0 | 19 | 3 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Christian Democratic Union (CDU) | 5895 | 22.1 | 2.5 | 12 | 1 |- | | align=left| Together for Lünen (GFL) | 3835 | 14.4 | 1.1 | 8 | 1 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne) | 3690 | 13.8 | 6.4 | 8 | 4 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Alternative for Germany (AfD) | 1816 | 6.8 | New | 4 | New |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Free Democratic Party (FDP) | 922 | 3.5 | 0.7 | 2 | ñ0 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| The Left (Die Linke) | 846 | 3.2 | 0.9 | 2 | ñ0 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Free Voters Lünen (FW Lünen) | 501 | 1.9 | New | 1 | New |- | colspan=7 bgcolor=lightgrey| |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Independent Fohrmeister | 85 | 0.3 | New | 0 | New |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Independent Rosenkranz | 85 | 0.2 | New | 0 | New |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Independent God | 19 | 0.1 | New | 0 | New |- ! colspan=2| Valid votes ! ! 98.2 ! ! ! |- ! colspan=2| Invalid votes ! 480 ! 1.8 ! ! ! |- ! colspan=2| Total ! ! 100.0 ! ! 56 ! 2 |- ! colspan=2| Electorate/voter turnout ! ! 41.1 ! 3.4 ! ! |- | colspan=7| Source: City of Lünen
Lünen is twinned with: