Nfter the mayoral election in Thuringia, runoff elections are expected to be held in two weeks in 26 of 325 municipalities. It is still about full-time positions in two places, as announced by the State Office for Statistics. Around 210,000 Thuringians were called to vote on Sunday. At around 51 percent, voter turnout was lower than six years ago when it was around 54 percent. Two municipalities were still missing from the count in the evening – results were not expected until Monday. A number of mayors were elected to office with clear majorities – some even with 100 percent approval.
Three surprising election results
In the Veßra monastery in southern Thuringia, Tommy Frenck’s candidacy had caused a lot of discussion in advance, which is being conducted by the Thuringian Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a right-wing extremist. Frenck was clearly defeated by incumbent Wolfgang Möller with around 29 percent of the votes. Voter turnout in the small town was 83 percent.
In Lenterode (Eichsfeld district), 82-year-old Albert Herold achieved 82 votes, a result of 82 percent. A total of 100 valid votes were cast in the town. Herold had no opponent. The mayor, who has been in office since 1997, was the oldest candidate in this year’s local elections in Thuringia.
The youngest applicant for the office of mayor was also able to celebrate an election victory: 24-year-old Sina Römhild received 84.1 percent of the votes cast in Oechsen (Wartburg district). Incumbent Wilfried Bleisteiner did not stand for re-election on Sunday.
CDU: “We are and will remain the local party in Thuringia.”
Little can be derived from the elections in terms of party politics: the only party that had a larger share of the candidates with 53 applicants was the CDU. A total of 41 of the candidates were also elected. CDU state leader Christian Hirte said: “We are and we will remain the local party in Thuringia.” In Sonneberg, where the CDU federal chairman Friedrich Merz appeared in the election campaign, CDU woman Uta Bätz clearly lost with 20.4 percent of the vote against incumbent Heiko Voigt (independent).