Erfurt (dpa/th) - There is a new mayor in the city of Leinefelde-Worbis. In the runoff election on Sunday, the independent candidate Christian Zwingmann prevailed against the CDU incumbent Marko Grosa, according to information from the state returning officer. Zwingmann got 56.8 percent of the votes.
The election of the full-time mayor was extremely close, according to preliminary information in the office of Wachsenburg in the Ilm district. There Sebastian Schiffer won as an individual applicant with 50.1 percent against Matthias Eschrich (CDU/Bürgeraktiv). Nine votes made the difference.
A total of around 33,000 Thuringians were called upon to elect their mayors in a run-off election. In 26 municipalities, the voters had to vote again because in the first round of the municipal elections two weeks ago, none of the candidates achieved a majority. The two full-time mayors in Leinefelde-Worbis and Wachenburg were elected, as well as 24 honorary mayors in smaller communities or districts.
According to the state returning officer, turnout in the runoff was 49.4 percent. 23 new mayors ran as independent candidates, three for the CDU.
Two weeks ago, mayors were elected in 325 Thuringian communities - in 299 of them an applicant prevailed. Voter turnout in the first round was around 51 percent.
