SPD politician Ralf Reinhardt wins the second round of elections in the Ostprignitz-Ruppin district against his AfD opponent. CDU member Sven Cekalla wins victory in the Saale district.
In the second round of elections for the district office in the district of Ostprignitz-Ruppin, the incumbent SPD president Ralf Reinhardt defeated AfD state parliament member Thorsten Arndt. According to preliminary final results, Reinhardt received 60.6 percent of the votes cast. AfD candidate Arndt received 39.4 percent. This is Reinhardt’s third term in office. Voter turnout was about 46 percent.
The Brandenburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies the AfD state association as clearly right-wing extremist. The AfD was only successful in Brandenburg in the mayoral elections of Zedenick, where Rene Stadtkewitz was elected in May.
Reinhardt led in the first round of voting
In the first round on June 7, Reinhardt received 34.7 percent of the vote, Arndt 30.3 percent. Independent individual candidate Thomas Kress received 23.9 percent, Ronald Mundt from the Association of Free Voters of Prignitz-Ruppin – 11.1 percent.
The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) called for a boycott of the second round of elections and rejected both candidates. The district association recommended that both candidates not be voted on or be excluded from the ballot – in which case the vote would be invalid.
CDU politician wins Saale district
The AfD candidate also lost the second round of elections for the post of district administrator of Saale (Saxony-Anhalt). CDU politician Sven Cekalla won there. According to preliminary results, 54.34 percent elected incumbent non-partisan district administrator Hartmut Handschak to succeed him. Cecalla is scheduled to take office on November 1.
According to information, AfD politician Arendt received 45.66 percent of the votes. In the first election on June 7, no candidate received the majority needed to be elected as the new district administrator on the first try. AfD politician Arendt received the most votes with 43.26 percent, followed by CDU politician Cekalla with 36.63 percent. Left-wing politician Kerstin Eisenreich received 13.17 percent. Independent Lars Zaruba scored 6.94 percent.
According to the district, a total of 153,115 citizens were eligible to vote in the second round, of whom 44.9 percent voted. In early June, voter turnout was 49.3 percent. The area currently has approximately 182,500 residents.
dpa/doli/luvi