Incumbent wins in Nordhausen
AfD fails in mayoral election
September 24, 2023, 9:03 p.m
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Halfway through the count in Nordhausen, Thuringia, it looks like another local victory for the AfD. But ultimately the non-party Kai Buchmann was able to prevail in the runoff election for the office of mayor.
The AfD failed in the mayoral election in Nordhausen, Thuringia. According to preliminary results, the independent incumbent Kai Buchmann surprisingly prevailed against the AfD candidate Jörg Prophet in a runoff election. This was announced by the city’s election office. Accordingly, after a long neck-and-neck race, Buchmann received 54.9 percent of the votes, Prophet 45.1 percent. A total of around 32,900 eligible voters were called to cast their votes. The AfD was therefore unable to continue its series of successes in local elections in East Germany.
In June, Robert Sesselmann was elected Germany’s first AfD district administrator in the southern Thuringian district of Sonneberg, and a little later an AfD candidate won the mayoral election in Raguhn-Jeßnitz (Saxony-Anhalt). The count was accompanied by applause in the Nordhausen council chamber, whenever Buchmann was ahead or his lead increased. Outside the building, dozens of people gathered and cheered shortly before the result was announced. Some had posters with them that were directed against the AfD. When the result was announced, long-lasting cheers broke out in the council chamber. Buchmann walked around and offered his hands to cheering supporters and hugged fellow supporters.
In Nordhausen, the AfD candidate Prophet, a 61-year-old entrepreneur, was considered the favorite after the first round of voting two weeks ago. On September 10th he received 42.1 percent of the vote, Buchmann only 23.7 percent. If he were successful in the runoff election, Prophet would have been the first mayor in Germany with an AfD party membership. The Thuringian AfD is classified and monitored by the state Office for the Protection of the Constitution as proven right-wing extremist, and the party is a suspected case nationwide.
Prophet is accused of historical revisionism
Prophet wished the election winner Buchmann success. As opposition leader in the city council, he was extending his hand to work together constructively, he said. Buchmann has been mayor of Nordhausen since October 2017. He has now been confirmed in office for another six years. Buchmann described the outcome of the runoff election as a “good result.” It is now about overcoming the division in the city.
Nordhausen has around 42,000 inhabitants and is an industrial and university town. The Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp Memorial is located on the outskirts of the city. The National Socialists deported around 60,000 people to the camp, and at least 20,000 prisoners died. Before the runoff election, several politicians, associations and organizations warned against electing the AfD candidate Prophet. In the Thuringian Constitutional Protection Report 2021, a text by Prophet was cited as an example of the AfD’s “historical revisionist agenda”.
The director of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation, Jens-Christian Wagner, also accused Prophet of historical revisionism, among other things. When it became apparent during the election evening that Prophet would lose to the independent incumbent in the election for the mayor’s office, Wagner emphasized his relief in an interview with ntv. “A huge weight has been lifted from my heart,” he said. There was great concern that the AfD candidate would come to power “who downplayed the Holocaust.”
Basic consensus “has slipped”
“I think there is also a huge sense of relief for the survivors this evening,” he continued. Israeli media also reported on the mayoral election. However, Wagner also warned of the high level of approval for Prophet. The fact that around 45 percent of voters voted for him is another example of how the basic political consensus in Germany has “slid.”
Buchmann also came under criticism before the election. Disciplinary proceedings are still ongoing against him. In the meantime, he had been suspended from work due to allegations of bullying, among other things, but a court later overturned this.