The AfD politician Rolf Weigand has been elected mayor of Großschirma. He received 82 percent of the vote on Sunday. The voter turnout was around 77 percent. Weigand was the only candidate in the repeat mayoral election, as no other nominations were submitted.
The former member of the state parliament had already received almost 60 percent of the vote in March in the election in the municipality of 5,500 inhabitants in Central Saxony. At that time, two opposing candidates from the CDU and the Independent Citizens' Association stood. However, the municipal supervisory authority later declared the election invalid due to breaches of election regulations, meaning it had to be repeated.
Mayors in Saxony are elected for seven years. If there is only one candidate, as is now the case in Großschirma, voters can also write down another person on their ballot paper if they do not want to vote for the candidate, according to the Local Elections Act.
Weigand already 1st deputy mayor
The election in Großschirma became necessary after the suicide of long-time incumbent Volkmar Schreiter last fall. Weigand had also run for the office of mayor in the previous election, but was defeated by Schreiter at the time. He was already the first deputy mayor of the small town.
The AfD recently won the top seat in Pirna town hall with Tim Lochner - although Lochner himself is not an AfD member. As things stand, this makes Weigand the first mayor in Saxony with an AfD party membership.
A new mayor was also elected at the same time in Weißwasser, where no results were initially available. The Saxon AfD is classified as right-wing extremist by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution, but is legally defending itself against this.
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