HAMBURG (Reuter) - The Social Democrats (SPD) in Hamburg, moving quickly to replace outgoing mayor Henning Voscherau, said they would nominate the city-state's finance senator, Ortwin Runde, to succeed Voscherau. The SPD party chairman in Hamburg, Joerg Kuhbier, said on Monday night that two-thirds of the SPD board in Hamburg had voted at a meeting in favour of Runde. The SPD will hold a party congress on the weekend to ratify the nomination. The SPD maintained its four-decade long hold on the mayor's office in a state election on Sunday, but Voscherau said he was quitting after nearly 10 years in office because the party's total fell to 36.2 percent, its lowest result since 1946. Voscherau's announcement on Sunday had surprised the party. There were no clear favourites to replace Voscherau and there was concern that the SPD would take several weeks to settle on a successor.