The Alternative for Germany’s candidate, also a master carpenter, has won the mayorship in the east German city of Pirna, marking the party’s first mayoral election victory in a mid-sized town.
Tim Lochner had already been well ahead in the first round of voting in Pirna, a town of nearly 40,000 in Saxony. According to the official final result, he received 38.5 percent of the vote in the decisive ballot.
The third-placed candidate from the first round, CDU candidate Kathrin Dollinger-Knuth, who was supported by the SPD, Greens and Left Party, received 31.4 percent, while 30.1 percent of Pirna residents voted for Ralf Thiele, the candidate of the Free Voters who came second in the first round of voting, 10 points behind Lochner.
“Congratulations after Pirna! #AfD candidate Tim #Lochner was elected the first AfD mayor there, far ahead of his competitors. Thanks to the many voters who made this historic result possible for the AfD!” wrote party leader Alice Weidel on X.
This marks the third major victory for the AfD, with Robert Sesselmann winning his district council elections in the Thuringian district of Sonneberg and Hannes Loth winning a mayoral election in Raguhn-Jeßnitz (Saxony-Anhalt), a much smaller town but still the first mayoral victory of any kind for the AfD.
