2023-07-02 21:50:08
The right-wing populist AfD has a full-time mayor in Saxony-Anhalt for the first time. 51.13 percent of those eligible to vote in the small town of Raguhn-Jeßnitz in the Anhalt-Bitterfeld district cast their vote for Hannes Loth, a member of the state parliament, on Sunday evening. The 42-year-old said shortly after his victory was announced that he was happy but didn’t feel any different than he did ten minutes earlier. In a run-off election, he defeated the non-party candidate Nils Naumann. The 31-year-old received 48.87 percent of the votes.
The AfD even spoke on Twitter of the first AfD mayor in Germany – with a mayor in Burladingen in Baden-Württemberg until 2020 who had switched to the AfD.
“It’s the event of the year for us”
Only a week ago, Robert Stuhlmann, the first AfD district administrator in Germany, was elected in Sonneberg in southern Thuringia. “I am totally surprised, flashed and I would like to thank all voters,” said Loth, who has been a member of the state parliament since 2016. He is also available for those who would not have voted for him. His election campaign was based purely on municipal issues – it’s about strengthening the fire brigade, daycare centers and more citizen participation. He doesn’t know whether the choice of Stuhlmann helped him. The AfD member of the Bundestag Kay-Uwe Ziegler said: “For us it is the event of the year, probably of the decade.”
First AfD mayor: An election poster by Hannes Loth in Raguhn: Image: Daniel Pilar
The non-party Naumann, who narrowly lost the election, said it didn’t matter to him whether there would be an AfD mayor in the future. “I’m concerned with facts and objectivity and not with the party,” said Naumann of the German Press Agency. As city council chairman, he will continue to work for the citizens.
A total of 7,800 of the approximately 8,800 residents of the small town in the south-east of Saxony-Anhalt were entitled to vote. Shortly after 7:30 p.m., the election officer and acting mayor, Constance Mädchen-Vötig, announced the result in the town’s wedding room – by that time, however, the first cheers in front of Loth’s election office, not far from the Rauthaus, had already died down. A citizen waved her congratulations from her bike. With flowers in hand and surrounded by supporters, Loth celebrated his victory. He learned of his success from an election office manager before the official announcement.
Sara Taimouri Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 128 A comment by Reinhard Müller Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 199 Stefan Locke, Sonneberg Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 21
Even when the polling stations were still open, some supporters had already gathered in front of Loth’s office to wait for the result over muffins – including the journalist Jürgen Elsässer, editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine “Compact”. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies the magazine as a proven right-wing extremist effort. The state chairman of the party, Martin Reichardt, also came to Raguhn-Jeßnitz.
The Greens state chairman Dennis Helmich said about the result of the election: “In the end, the candidate of a right-wing extremist party received a narrow majority of the voters. This is massively disappointing, given that the office of full-time mayor has now been handed over to a representative of the party that promotes division, exclusion and backward-looking politics.”
Like his opponent Naumann, Loth grew up in Raguhn-Jeßnitz. He is a farmer and was a manager in an agricultural company. Loth has been a member of the state parliament for the right-wing populist AfD since 2016. He has also been active at the municipal level for several years. According to his own statements, Loth has been a city councilor in Raguhn-Jeßnitz since 2016 and a member of the Anhalt-Bitterfeld district council since 2019. During the election campaign, the 42-year-old primarily focused on local political issues. He wants to improve economic development and the equipment of the fire brigades.
In the first round, Loth got 40.7 percent of the votes, Naumann got 36.9 percent. Two other applicants were well behind. The gap between Loth and Naumann was less than 200 votes. Naumann has been chairman of the city council since 2019 and works as a department head in neighboring Bitterfeld-Wolfen.
For the AfD, after the office of district administrator in the district of Sonneberg, it is another prominent position in public administration. Robert Stuhlmann’s election victory further fueled the debate about the AfD’s current high. It also ranks around 20 percent in Germany-wide surveys. The State Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Thuringia rates the AfD regional association there as “secure right-wing extremism”, Germany-wide the Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies the party as a suspected case.
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