Germany: Far-Right AfD Wins First City Mayoral Election

A candidate from Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party won a city mayoral election for the first time on Sunday.

Tim Lochner was elected after winning the second round of voting in Pirna, a town in the eastern state of Saxony where the AfD has been notably strong.

Initial results showed that Lochner had won 38.5% of the vote, the city stated on its website.

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Sunday’s result comes just days after the eastern state of Saxony’s domestic intelligence agency deemed the AfD as a right-wing extremist party.

Pirna marks the first time the AfD has won a mayorship in a town. In August, Hannes Loth was elected as the first mayor of a municipality — Raguhn-Jeßnitz in the state of Saxony-Anhalt — but this was a region with just 9,000 inhabitants.

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