2023-07-03 01:01:01
A week after taking over its first canton, the far-right German party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) took a new step in its electoral progress on Sunday evening, electing its first full-time mayor of a municipality.
Hannes Loth, 42, was elected under the colors of the Alternative for Germany party (Alternative für Deutschland, AfD) at the head of Raguhn-Jessnitz, a locality of some 9,000 inhabitants in the region of Saxony-Anhalt, in the east of the country. This elected representative of the regional parliament of Saxony-Anhalt won this election with 51.13% ahead of a candidate without a label.
Just a week ago, the far-right party won the presidency of a territorial community in Germany bringing together several municipalities, the equivalent of a French canton: that of Sonneberg, in the Thuringia region, also in the East of the country.
VIDEO TV5 WORLD. Sonnenberg: AfD victory is a first
“After the first canton, we now have the AfD’s first full-time mayor,” rejoiced party official Christian Blex on social media.
A small number of German villages have already had AfD mayors in the past, but this was a voluntary role, these elected officials having another job at the same time. This time the mayor will be in full-time office and, according to all the major German media, this is indeed an unprecedented election from this point of view.
The AfD ahead of Chancellor Scholz’s party
It comes in a context of strong growth in the polls of this anti-migrant, eurosceptic movement defending pro-Russian positions, which was created 10 years ago. According to an opinion poll by the Insa institute published on Sunday by the Sunday edition of the daily Bild, the AfD is ahead with 20% of the voting intentions of the Social Democratic Party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (19%).
In the last legislative elections of 2021, the far-right party recorded a score less than half, with 10.3% of the vote. The AfD is particularly established in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) which feels left behind.
The party has been surfing for several months on the discontent of part of the public, fueled by inflation or the ecological transition that the government is trying to put in place, under the impetus of ecologists, a member of the ruling coalition. .
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