Bitterfeld-Wolfen
AfD speculates on mayor’s chair – runoff election on Sunday
An election poster of the AfD candidate Dornack hangs in front of the town hall. photo
© Jan Woitas/dpa
The AfD wants to win a mayoral election for the first time on Sunday. Once again the focus is on the south of Saxony-Anhalt.
In Nordhausen, Thuringia, the AfD candidate was clearly ahead in the first round of the mayoral election recently, but ultimately lost in the runoff. “I am very optimistic that Bitterfeld-Wolfen will get an AfD mayor,” said AfD district chairman Daniel Roi to the German Press Agency. “Bitterfeld-Wolfen is not Nordhausen.”
Almost two weeks ago, the AfD candidate Henning Dornack received the most votes in the first round with 33.76 percent. Incumbent Armin Schenk (CDU) got 29.14 percent. Dornack could become the first AfD politician to be elected mayor.
Despite the state elections in Bavaria and Hesse, there is so much focus on the date that even Saxony-Anhalt’s Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (CDU) recently spoke of a decisive election and called for a “clear position of all democratic forces”. It’s about a clear demarcation from the AfD and the reputation of Saxony-Anhalt, said the head of government.
AfD district leader Roi, on the other hand, points out that Dornack, as deputy city council chairman, has already managed to get majorities. There needs to be a change at the top of the city, said Roi. He accuses the city administration under incumbent Schenk of failing. He rejects the allegations. The city’s debt has been reduced and must continue to do so, he said. Trade tax revenue has recently increased, but the consolidation will probably last until 2027, said Schenk.
There are currently a total of 16 mayors in Saxony-Anhalt. The AfD was recently successful in the south of Saxony-Anhalt when the AfD candidate Hannes Loth won the mayoral election in Raguhn-Jeßnitz (Anhalt-Bitterfeld district) in July.
Previously, Robert Sesselmann was elected as the country’s first AfD district administrator in Sonneberg, southern Thuringia. This further fueled the debate about the current rise of the AfD, which the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies as a suspected case of right-wing extremism nationwide.