A new district administrator will be elected tomorrow in Sonneberg, Thuringia. A CDU and an AfD candidate will go into the runoff. The dissatisfaction of some voters with federal politics could bring important votes to the AfD.
AfD candidate Robert Stuhlmann is not speaking at the moment – at least not publicly. Until today’s runoff election for the district administrator in Sonneberg, Thuringia, he wanted to remain silent to the media and “bring some peace in,” according to party circles.
Another speaks and can hardly hide his anticipation. It’s Stefan Möller, deputy head of the AfD in Thuringia: “I’m not at all sure of victory, but I have great hope. I was cautiously optimistic at first and am now much more optimistic, of course also because of the feedback we got from the Appearances, throwing in flyers, getting door-to-door calls. That’s extremely positive.”
The CDU goes from door to door
In the first ballot, Stuhlmann was 800 votes short of an absolute majority. Not even half of the 48,299 eligible voters voted: 49 percent turnout.
It’s supposed to be different tomorrow. The CDU has beaten the advertising drum for this – as on Thursday afternoon in the pedestrian zone of the district town of Sonneberg. The sun is burning, it’s unbearably hot. Beate Meißner doesn’t let that bother her. The member of parliament and her team set up a parasol at the information stand. Flyers are ready, pens too. Again and again she tries to talk to passers-by.
Meißner is campaigning for votes for Jürgen Köpper, the incumbent district administrator. The action is an exception. The CDU is actually pursuing a different strategy, says Meißner: “We have now set up fewer campaign stands during the day when a lot of people are working, but have gone more door-to-door campaigns.” They went to the communities and cities in the evenings and on Saturdays with support from all over the country. “We’re trying to mobilize those who don’t vote and to convince them of the importance of the election on Sunday,” said Meissner.
Hardly any district issues, a lot of federal politics
She and her colleagues keep hearing the same thing from the people behind the doors: they are dissatisfied with the situation. Not so much the situation in the district – in southern Thuringia, politics in Berlin is currently playing the main role, it decides where people make their cross.
Knut Korschewsky, member of the state parliament for the left, lives in Sonneberg and has been observing for months how the mood is getting worse: “It’s not about being left behind because Sonneberg is on the edge of Thuringia or just before Franconia, but federal politics isn’t contributing to it at the moment that the mood is getting better overall.”
For the left-wing politician, this is the main reason for the AfD candidate’s soaring flight. And indeed – if you look at Robert Stuhlmann’s election posters, you will hardly find any district issues, but instead a lot of federal politics: immigration, security, medical care, the demand for the abolition of broadcasting fees.
Help election recommendations?
At the CDU they defy with the slogan “Because it’s about our district now”. For this purpose, a party alliance has gathered behind Köpper – Left, SPD, Greens and the FDP have made election recommendations for him. Does that help?
In the Sonneberg town hall there is only a shrug of the shoulders to this question. The southern Thuringians are considered stubborn and could take such recommendations as patronizing. That’s why this call by the parties is a tightrope walk, says non-party mayor Heiko Voigt: “We are evaluated and observed from outside and that’s always uncomfortable, of course.”
Watching will continue. First until 6 p.m. tomorrow evening. Then the polling stations in the district of Sonneberg will close. Less than an hour later, it could already be determined who will become the new district administrator.