Thuringia's local elections see no major victory for AfD; many races go to a second round.
Nearly 1.7 million residents were invited to participate in the local elections in Thuringia, where close to 7500 seats were available in its various local parliaments. These included district councillors, mayors, mayors, district councils, city councils, and municipal councils.
The elections held on Sunday served as a prelude to the state elections set to take place on September 1. The principal focus centered on the performance of the AfD, a right-wing party with significant influence in certain municipalities, who had previously accomplished a momentous feat by winning the first district council position in the entire Thuringia state.
On the night of the elections, the AfD emerged as the frontrunner only in the Altenburger Land district's district council race, where Heiko Philipp garnered 33.0% of the votes. However, as his percentage did not attain the required absolute majority, a second-round election - scheduled simultaneously with the European elections - will now decide the district administrator's future; Uwe Melzer, the CDU candidate, came in second with 32.2% of the votes.
In eight other districts, the interim results revealed that the AfD candidates ranked second as well. Consequently, these areas would also undergo further elections. In Hildburghausen, the notorious right-wing extremist Tommy Frenck from the Free Voters, was among the contenders with the runner-up of this particular district, Sven Gregor. Frenck, who has a notorious reputation and is a former NPD member, made headlines in the past due to his association with the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
In the district of Schmalkalden-Meiningen, the incumbent district administrator from the SPD, Peggy Greiser, triumphed in the first round, implying no need for a further election. The incumbent mayors of Weimar and Suhl, Peter Kleine and André Knapp, respectively, clinched victories as per the interim results. The mayoral races witnessed no participation from the AfD in both cities.
Thirteen of Thuringia's 17 administrative districts held these elections. The AfD had clinched the first-ever district administrator victory back in June 2018 in the Thuringian district of Sonneberg.
Voters composed of all Thuringians aged sixteen and above had the privilege of casting their votes. A provisional final result was expected on Monday night, with a potential final tally surfacing by the earliest on Monday. If no majority emerged, the corresponding run-off elections will be held during the European elections on June 9.
The CDU and the Left Party displayed an optimistic outlook on the pending local election results. CDU Chairman and top candidate for the state election on September 1, Mario Voigt, believed they had secured a "good day with rational decisions for Thuringia." He emphasized that the CDU would likely become the foremost party in Thuringia.
Ulrike Grosse-Röthig, the party chief for the Left Party, noted that Thuringia had not transformed into a land tinted in blue. In the present scenario, she pointed out, the electorate had "prevented the brown-led takeover in the district council and mayoral elections for Thuringia's first round."
SPD's primary leader in the region, Georg Maier, embraced the local election results as indicative of the party's success. "Social democratic local governance enjoyed a boost today," he stated. Maier, who is the party's leading candidate for the September 1 elections, shared that the SPD had "credited its third-largest political force in Thuringia, surpassing the 16% benchmark" in its overall outcome.
In recent polls for the state election, the CDU held the second position, just behind the AfD with roughly 30% and 20% of the votes respectively. As for the Left Party, BSW, SPD, and the Greens, they all hovered around the 16%, 15.5%, and 7.5% thresholds, respectively. The CDU and Left Party shared a minority administration in Erfurt.
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Source: www.stern.de
