Victory in mayoral election
Syrian refugee governs Swabian village
4/3/2023 7:37 am
The story of Ryyan Alshebl is an extraordinary one. At the age of 21 he fled from the civil war in Syria to Germany. He begins a career in public administration in a Swabian community. He stands for the mayoral election in the small village of Ostelsheim – and wins the election.
He fled Syria in 2015 and is now the mayor of Ostelsheim: The Swabian village in the Calw district elected Ryyan Alshebl as the new mayor of the town hall on Sunday with an absolute majority of 55.41 percent of the votes, as the community announced in the evening. The 29-year-old ran for election as an independent party. Privately, however, he is a member of the Greens. He describes his experiences during the election campaign as “predominantly positive”.
At the age of 21, Alshebl fled his hometown of Suwayda in southern Syria. He has been working in the administration of the Althengstett town hall for seven years now. As mayor, Alshebl now plans to move to nearby Ostelsheim, he said.
Alshebl is probably the first Syrian mayor in the southwest. According to the municipal council of Baden-Württemberg, there have not yet been any other applicants with Syrian roots for a mayoral office. In the election on Sunday, the 29-year-old prevailed against the non-party candidates Marco Strauss and Mathias Fey.