AfD conquers the first district council post in Sonneberg: experts warn of the triumphal procession of right-wing populists

In Thuringia, for the first time, an AfD politician has made it into the office of district administrator. Federal politicians are dismayed. The news ticker.

• AfD district administrator in Sonneberg now fact: "Day of shame" - Höcke hopes for "earthquake"
• AfD conquers the first district council post in Thuringia: "Everyone should hear the warning"
• Concern about right-wing extremism: Other parties call for the election of the CDU

Update from June 26, 4:50 a.m.: After the election victory of the AfD in the Thuringian district of Sonneberg, experts expect further successes of the right-wing populist party in East Germany. "If there is no dramatic change of mood, the state elections and the local elections next year could become a triumphal procession of the AfD," said the Dresden political scientist Hans Vorländer of the German Press Agency.

Vorländer went on to say that the AfD would not govern at the state level due to a lack of partners. But large alliances of the other parties would be necessary in order to achieve government majorities. "It is becoming more and more difficult to make politics against the AfD or to win elections against the AfD," said the director of the Center for the Study of Constitution and Democracy at the TU Dresden.

Election party of the AfD in Sonneberg: Dissatisfaction with the federal government "fertile ground for the AfD". © IMAGO/Jacob Schršter

Vorländer spoke of a mixture of different motives among voters. The AfD has been deeply rooted in many regions of eastern Germany for years and in some cases has a potential of more than 30 percent. Many people have conservative, right-wing populist, right-wing nationalist or even völkisch attitudes. Currently, there is also dissatisfaction with the federal government. "This is fertile ground for the AfD," said Vorländer.

AfD district administrator in Sonneberg wants to "talk to all parliamentary groups"

Update from June 25, 21:30 p.m.: The new AfD district administrator in Sonneberg has spoken personally for the first time after his election victory. Ideological considerations should be left out, said Robert Sesselmann at the AfD election party. He wanted to talk to all the groups. "We also have to reach out to our political opponents," he said, stressing that he was concerned with issues such as the consolidation of the budget or the renovation of schools.

In his short speech at the election party, however, he also criticized the media as "system media" that had given him an ideological election campaign. The AfD sees Sesselmann "on the way to becoming a people's party". He announced that he would resign from the Thuringian state parliament.

The Thuringian CDU sees itself as innocent of the defeat of its candidate: "In the end, the election campaign was overshadowed by the bad policies of the federal government, which we very much regret," said CDU General Secretary Christian Herrgott in the state capital Erfurt. The Thuringian SPD, which forms a minority government with the Left Party and the Greens under the leadership of Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (Left), spoke of an "alarm signal for all democratic forces".

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AfDman Robert Sesselmann will soon take office as district administrator in the Sonneberg district (Thuringia). © Martin Schutt/dpa

AfD district administrator in Sonneberg now fact: "Day of shame" - Höcke hopes for "earthquake"

Update from June 25, 20:30 p.m.: After the first election victory of an AfD district council candidate, federal politics is appalled - while the AfD celebrates in sometimes drastic tones. The SPD politician Ralf Stegner, for example, wrote on Twitter of a "day of shame". The Central Council of Jews also issued a warning. "To put it bluntly, not every AfD voter has a right-wing extremist sentiment," President Josef Schuster said, according to the Jewish General. "But the party whose candidates they voted for is right-wing extremist, according to the state secret service."

AfD state leader Björn Höcke said at the AfD election party that Sonneberg is a "political weather glow". They want to take this momentum with them for the upcoming district elections. "And then we prepare for the state elections in the east, where we can really create a political earthquake." Meanwhile, the CDU opponent of election winner Robert Sesselmann, Jürgen Köpper, spoke rather soberly of a bad day for the Sonneberg district.

AfD conquers the first district council post in Thuringia: "Everyone should hear the warning"

Update from June 25, 19:30 p.m.: Now there is certainty: The AfD has won a district council post for the first time. Their candidate Robert Sesselmann prevailed in the Thuringian district of Sonneberg on Sunday in the run-off election against the incumbent district administrator Jürgen Köpper of the CDU. This was announced by the electoral office. According to preliminary results, Sesselmann received 14,992 votes, Köpper 13,419 votes. In addition, there were 367 invalid stim slips. This results in 52.8 percent for the AfD politician.

There are first dismayed reactions from federal politics. Katrin Göring-Eckardt, Vice-President of the Bundestag and Thuringian, said in a tweet: "Everyone should hear the warning. Anyone who relies on division rhetorically or in reality should not be surprised if the original is chosen." She pointed out once again that the Thuringian AfD state association is classified by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution as proven right-wing extremist. "Robert Sesselmann has made history," said AfD leader Alice Weidel. "This is just the beginning!" she tweeted.

Update from June 25, 19:20 p.m.: The first district office for an AfD politician in Germany seems to be just a formality. There is still no preliminary final result from the Thuringian district of Sonneberg. After counting 68 of the 69 constituencies, the AfD man Robert Sesselmann is still clearly ahead of incumbent Jürgen Köpper (CDU). Currently, the race stands at 53.2 to 46.8 percent.

According to a report by the MDR, the State Statistical Office now has a voter turnout of 58.2 percent.

Update from June 25, 19:00 p.m.: The district election in Sonneberg is apparently attracting great interest - the election portal of the state of Thuringia is currently unavailable. After counting five more voting districts, the lead of the AfD candidate Robert Sesselmann has apparently narrowed slightly. According to several media reports, he is currently ahead of CDU politician Jürgen Köpper with 53.7 percent of the vote. The incumbent received 46.3 percent of the vote.

AfD clearly in front in the district election in Sonneberg - final result is still pending

Update from June 25, 18:47 p.m.: According to initial figures, the AfD will probably actually win its first district council post in Sonneberg, Thuringia. 61 of 69 voting districts have currently been counted. According to MDR data, the AfD candidate Robert Sesselmann has so far received 54.2 percent of the votes, while his CDU opponent Jürgen Köpper has received 45.8 percent. A final result is still pending. According to the report, voter turnout was just under 52 percent.

Update from June 25, 18:23 p.m.: The polling stations in Sonneberg have now closed - the counting is underway, as reported by MDR Thuringia. However, there are no results yet.

Update from June 25, 17:52 p.m.: The first votes from Sonneberg on election day could underpin that the AfD has a chance of winning. "In recent years, it has been the CDU's turn to hold the office of district administrator. (...) I'm fully in favor of the AfD because something should change," one voter told Focus Online. Another voter also assumed that the AfD would win and stressed: "We are, not all, but many, a bit fed up with the so-called democratic forces."

However, the actual state of affairs will only be revealed by the election results. The polling stations close at 18 p.m. The first information will then be provided by the intermediate results of the count. Due to the manageable number of votes, they will probably be available in the course of the early evening.

Run-off election in Sonneberg: AfD poll high worried ex-chairman Jürgen Meuthen

Update from June 25, 13:00 p.m.: The AfD poll high is also worrying former members. The ex-chairman of the party, Jörg Meuthen, has spoken out before the run-off election in Sonnenberg – and warned of an increasing radicalization by Björn Höcke.

Update from June 25, 10:25 a.m.: Before the upcoming run-off election in Sonneberg, Thuringia, the election campaign was rough, according to CDU information in recent days – in the social media, false allegations had also been made. Around 48,000 people are called to the run-off election. Polling stations are open from 8:00 a.m. to 18:00 p.m. With around 57,000 inhabitants, Sonneberg is one of the smallest districts in Germany – and could provide the first district administrator from the AfD.

According to a representative Civey poll for the TV station Welt, a majority of Germans are worried about the idea of an AfD district administrator. This was answered by 52 percent of respondents. 43 percent, on the other hand, said that they would not be worried if the AfD won the district election. The remaining 5 percent were undecided.

District election in Sonneberg: AfD narrowly misses out on an absolute majority

First reported on 25 June: Sonneberg – On Sunday (25 June), for the first time in Germany's history, an AfD politician could be elected district administrator. In the run-off election in the Thuringian district of Sonneberg, the AfD candidate Robert Sesselmann and the CDU politician Jürgen Köpper compete against each other.

In the first round of voting on June 11, Sesselmann narrowly missed out on an absolute majority with 46.7 percent of the vote. Köpper achieved 35.7 percent. Voter turnout in the first round was 49.1 percent.

Source: Sonneberg district

The district council election will take place unscheduled, as the district administrator Hans-Peter Schmitz (independent), who was elected in 2018, has been retired due to a protracted illness.

CDU and AfD compete against each other in the run-off election

After this election result, Thuringia's CDU leader Mario Voigt announced that his party would once again campaign massively for votes. "We will give everything in the next two weeks to ensure that Sonneberg remains stable," he said.

Thuringia's AfD leader Björn Höcke, on the other hand, cheered on Twitter: "With just under 47 percent, my parliamentary group colleague Robert Sesselmann was able to achieve the best AfD result in the first round of a district election," wrote the 51-year-old. Only about three percentage points would have been missing to become the first AfD district administrator. "We want to and will do that for #Thüringen," Höcke wrote.

Parties call for the election of the CDU candidate

In the run-up to the run-off election, the Left Party as well as the SPD, the Greens and the FDP called for support for the CDU candidate Köpper. Thuringia's SPD leader Georg Maier campaigned for an election of the CDU candidate on Twitter. Beauty had "fought grandiosely. For the run-off election, I recommend Jürgen Köpper @cdu_thueringen."

Thuringia's FDP leader Thomas Kemmerich also spoke out in favor of Köpper. "The result of the district election is not good for the district of Sonneberg," said Kemmerich. "The chance in the second round of voting should be to mobilize the more than 50 percent non-voters in order to make the result in favor of the candidate of the CDU, Jürgen Köpper, positive for the district."

The state chairman of the Left Party in Thuringia, Ulrike Grosse-Röthig, said that all democratic parties in the district in southern Thuringia must now follow reason "and agree on the support of the democratic candidate".

Run-off election in Sonneberg: Sesselmann vs. Köpper

In the run-off election on Sunday, June 25, Robert Sesselmann (AfD) and Jürgen Köpper (CDU) will compete against each other. ©

Robert Sesselmann is an AfD member of the Thuringian state parliament. It is already his second attempt at the chief post in the Sonneberg district office. In the 2018 election, he ended up in third place – and thus did not make it into the runoff. Jürgen Köpper has been interim district administrator since March. However, he has been running the business in the district for some time. (with agency material)