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AfD could win second district administrator position nationwide
The AfD in East Thuringia could be elected to its second district administrator position. photo
© Carsten Koall/dpa
First Sonneberg, now the Saale-Orla district? In Thuringia, the AfD is hoping for its second coup in a district election. A CDU candidate is opposing this – and is not only receiving tailwind from the street.
While people across the country are again protesting against right-wing extremism this weekend, the… AfD in East Thuringia will be elected to their second district administrator position today (from 8 a.m.).
In the Saale-Orla district, AfD candidate Uwe Thrum and CDU man Christian Herrgott will face each other in a runoff election. Thrum received 45.7 percent of the vote in the first round of voting two weeks ago, while Herrgott received 33.3 percent.
In the Sonneberg district, Robert Sesselmann won the AfD’s first district administrator position in the country last summer. The Thuringian Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies the regional association headed by Björn Höcke as proven right-wing extremist and is monitoring it.
Mood test for the coming elections
The election is seen as the first test of sentiment for the upcoming elections in Thuringia. In May, a number of district administrator and mayoral seats will be filled in the Free State. The state elections are coming up on September 1st. The AfD is well ahead in nationwide surveys, recently reaching values above 30 percent. The situation is similar in Saxony and Brandenburg, where elections are also due in September 2024.
Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets nationwide since last weekend. The trigger was revelations about a meeting of radical right-wingers in Potsdam, in which some AfD politicians also took part.
The current demonstrations could mean that more people came to vote who would otherwise tend to stay at home during such local elections, said Erfurt political scientist André Brodocz. Protest voters could also realize that a vote for the AfD is a vote for right-wing extremist politics and instead not go to the polls. In general, however, the effects are difficult to estimate.
The broad alliance “Cosmopolitan Thuringia” presented itself in Thuringia on Thursday, bringing together more than 3,400 associations, cities, companies and individuals. The campaign wants to promote cosmopolitanism and democracy at least until the state elections and relies on positive messages.
Low wage levels in the district
The rural Saale-Orla district is located in the southeast of Thuringia and borders Bavaria and Saxony. According to data from the state statistical offices, in 2021 it was one of the ten districts with the lowest salaries per employee in Germany, with a gross salary of 29,048 euros. Around 40 percent of employees are in the minimum wage sector, according to the German Federation of Trade Unions in Hesse-Thuringia.
The district, like other regions in Thuringia, is struggling with declining population numbers: While 103,000 people still lived there in 1994, at the end of 2022 there were around 79,000 – half of whom were 50 years old and older. The largest city, Pößneck, has around 12,000 inhabitants.