Good opportunities in the Saale-Orla district
AfD could get second district administrator position
January 28, 2024, 6:54 a.m
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After its success in Sonneberg, the AfD is now also hoping for a victory in the district elections in the Saale-Orla district in Thuringia. In the first round of voting, their candidate is clearly ahead of his competitor from the CDU – now the runoff election is coming up. The vote is seen as a mood test for the coming autumn.
While people across the country are again protesting against right-wing extremism at the weekend, the AfD could be elected to its second district administrator position in eastern Thuringia. In the Saale-Orla district, AfD candidate Uwe Thrum and CDU man Christian Herrgott 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. Since no candidate received the necessary absolute majority straight away, a runoff election is necessary.
In advance, the Left and the Greens called for the AfD not to be given a vote. Thuringia’s SPD state leader Georg Maier supported Herrgott. The AfD could conquer the second district office in the Saale-Orla district. Last June, AfD politician Robert Sesselmann won a district administrator position for the party for the first time in the Thuringian district of Sonneberg. In December, an AfD candidate won a mayoral election for the first time. In Pirna, Saxony, AfD candidate Tim Lochner prevailed in a second round of voting.
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.
Mass demonstrations could have an impact on the election
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.