2023-07-03 00:30:39
Members of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party (left to right Bjorn Hocke, Robert Sesselmann, Stephan Brandner and Tino Chrupalla) at the AfD election party in Sonneberg, Germany, June 25 2023. MARTIN SCHUTT / AP
Vast period for the German far right. Hannes Loth, 42, was elected under the colors of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party at the head of Raguhn-Jessnitz, a town of some 9,000 inhabitants in the Saxony-Anhalt region, in the east of the country, according to figures published on Sunday, July 2, on the municipality’s Facebook page. With 51.13%, this elected representative of the regional parliament of Saxony-Anhalt beat a candidate without a label.
Just a week ago, the far-right party had won the presidency of a territorial community in Germany bringing together several municipalities, the equivalent of a French canton: that of Sonneberg, in the region of Thuringia, also in east of the country.
“After the first canton, we now have the AfD’s first full-time mayor”rejoiced on social networks a party official, Christian Blex.
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Strong presence in the east of the country
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.
It comes in a context of strong growth in the polls of this anti-migrant, eurosceptic movement defending pro-Russian positions, which was created ten years ago. According to an opinion poll by the Insa institute published on Sunday by the Sunday edition of the daily Bildthe AfD is ahead, with 20% of the voting intentions, of the Social Democratic Party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (19%).
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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 east of the country, 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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