July 2 () –
The town of Raguhn-Jessnitz, in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, has elected this Sunday the first elected mayor of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Hannes Loth.
Loth has prevailed in the second round of the elections to the independent candidate Nils Naumann with 51.13 percent of the votes, compared to 48.87 percent of Naumann, according to preliminary official data published by the City Council itself. Participation has been 61.51 percent.
“I am surprised and ecstatic and I want to thank all the voters,” said Loth, who has served as a regional deputy since 2016. The new mayor has announced that he will also work for those who have not voted for him.
The campaign has been focused on local issues such as the resources of the fire brigade, centers for the elderly or greater citizen participation.
AfD has highlighted on Twitter that he is the first mayor of the formation, but in Burladingen, in Baden-Württemberg, there was already a mayor who switched to AfD after his election, Harry Ebert, who held office for a brief period in 2020.
This is the second institutional victory for the AfD in a week after Robert Sesselmann became the first district administrator in Sonneberg in Thuringia, also a former member of the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
