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CDU candidate Christian Herrgott: Just ahead in the runoff election in the Saale-Orla district
Photo: Jens Schlueter / Getty Images
The AfD lost the runoff election for the district office in the Saale-Orla district in eastern Thuringia. The CDU candidate Christian Herrgott prevailed on Sunday with 52.4 percent of the vote against AfD man Uwe Thrum, as the state returning officer announced after all voting districts were counted.
In the first round of voting two weeks ago, Thrum dominated with 45.7 percent of the vote. At that time, for goodness sake, it was 33.3 percent. A total of around 66,000 people in the district are eligible to vote. The 39-year-old Herrgott is general secretary of the Thuringian CDU and has been a member of the state parliament since 2014. His first day of work as district administrator is scheduled for February 9th.
Voter turnout in the runoff election was 68.6 percent, higher than the 66 percent in the first round, according to data from the state returning officer. In the rural and low-income district, the AfD was hoping for its second district administrator post in Germany after Robert Sesselmann in Sonneberg. The Thuringian AfD is classified and monitored by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution as definitely right-wing extremist.
Many elections in Thuringia
According to AfD state leader Björn Höcke, the defeat is due to nationwide developments. The success of candidate Uwe Thrum in the first round of the election brought the entire country's attention to the district, Höcke said on Platform .”
The Thuringian CDU state leader Mario Voigt is optimistic for his party from the election results. "Together in alliance with the citizens, we have the strength to beat Höcke's alleged alternative," wrote Voigt on X. The victory of CDU candidate Herrgott is a "strong vote." This Sunday is a good and important day for Thuringia.
The election was 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 surveys, recently reaching values above 30 percent. The situation is similar in Saxony and Brandenburg, where elections are also due in the fall.
The Saale-Orla district is located in southeast 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.
As head of the district administration, a district administrator must primarily implement decisions made by the district council, but also by the state parliament and the federal parliament. He can also clarify regional issues such as daycare or the renovation of buildings and roads. District administrators can also make decisions regarding the accommodation and care of refugees in the district. Recently, several CDU-run districts in Thuringia introduced payment cards for refugees.
wit/dpa