In the district elections in Sonneberg in southern Thuringia, AfD politician Robert Stuhlmann received almost half of the votes and was almost elected Germany’s first AfD district administrator.
After counting all voting districts on Sunday, Stuhlmann received 46.7 percent of the votes, putting him ahead of CDU candidate Jürgen Köpper, according to data from the state returning officer. According to preliminary results, Köpper achieved 35.7 percent. The runoff election is scheduled for June 25 in two weeks.
Stuhlmann is an AfD deputy in the Thuringian state parliament. It is already his second attempt at the chief post in the Sonneberg district office. The Thuringian AfD with its state party and parliamentary group leader Björn Höcke is classified and observed by the state protection of the constitution as a secured right-wing extremist effort. Just a few weeks ago, there was a runoff election between AfD and SPD candidates in Brandenburg’s Oder-Spree district, with a narrow outcome. The SPD candidate decided this for himself.
Ramelow disappointed with voter turnout
Thuringia’s Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) was disappointed with the turnout of 49.1 percent. This is a serious problem, Ramelow told the German Press Agency. “Half of those who didn’t go also share some of the responsibility for the fact that the AfD candidate got 50 percent almost immediately,” said Ramelow.
With a view to the runoff election, the 67-year-old said he would like it if Democrats gathered and local, export-oriented companies also spoke up. In the election campaign, Stuhlmann dealt with issues that were not decided at the district level.
Höcke celebrates the result
Thuringia’s AfD boss Björn Höcke cheered on Twitter: “With almost 47 percent, my parliamentary colleague Robert Stuhlmann was able to achieve the best AfD result in the first round of a district election,” wrote the 51-year-old on Twitter. Only about three percentage points would have been missing to become the first AfD district administrator. “That’s what we want and will do for
The Thuringian CDU boss Mario Voigt announced that his party wants to campaign again massively for votes. “We will do everything in the next two weeks to ensure that Sonneberg remains stable,” he said. The voters who wanted to express protest with their votes for the AfD would have done so now. “But now it’s about the question of work, reason and progress with Jürgen Köpper or meaningless slogans that drive the district of Sonneberg against the wall.”
After the two other candidates in the district of Sonneberg, Nancy Schwalbach (Greens) and Anja Schönheit (SPD), who were supported by the Left and Greens, did not make it into the runoff, Thuringia’s SPD leader Georg Maier campaigned for the CDU candidate to be elected. Beauty “fought brilliantly,” Maier wrote on Twitter. “I recommend Jürgen Köpper @cdu_thueringen for the runoff.” Beauty came in at 13.3 percent, Schwalbach at 4.4 percent.
Kemmerich also spoke out in favor of Köpper
Thuringia’s FDP leader Thomas Kemmerich also spoke out in favor of Köpper. “The result of the district election is not good for the district of Sonneberg,” explained Kemmerich. “The chance in the second ballot should be to mobilize the more than 50 percent non-voters in order to make the result in favor of the CDU candidate, Jürgen Köpper, positive for the district.”
Ramelow said that Köpper is an experienced representative of the district, “who actually led the district office in difficult times”. Köpper has been interim district administrator since March, but has been running the business in the district for a long time.
The district administrator election was unscheduled because the district administrator Hans-Peter Schmitz (independent), who was elected in 2018, was retired due to a long-term illness.
Ramelow said the region in the district of Sonneberg is one of the economically strongest in Thuringia. It would be a problem if, in the future, the signal went out from this region that international specialists were no longer welcome.
