AfD in second gear without a win: CDU ahead again in district elections in Saxony

In the second round of the district elections in Saxony, too, the AfD did not win a single seat and was even relegated to third place by the Free Voters.

AfD in second gear without a win: CDU ahead again in district elections in Saxony

In the second round of the district elections in Saxony, too, the AfD did not win a single seat and was even relegated to third place by the Free Voters. As in the first round, the CDU is ahead almost everywhere in Bavaria.

The CDU defended its dominant position in the district elections in Saxony. The CDU candidates won in five of the six districts in which the second round of voting took place on Sunday. In the Zwickau district, however, the candidate from the CDU only beat the candidate for the Free Voters by a narrow margin of ten votes. In the district of Mittelsachsen, on the other hand, the Christian Democrats lost the post of district administrator, where the non-party individual applicant Dirk Neubauer, who was supported by the SPD and the left, among others, won. So far, the CDU has occupied all district offices in the Free State. The AfD, however, missed its goal of winning a district administrator's post in the local elections in Saxony for the first time in Germany.

Three weeks ago, the CDU candidates had won an absolute majority in three districts in the first ballot. A second round of voting was necessary in the districts of Vogtland, Zwickau, Erzgebirge, Mittelsachsen, Bautzen and Görlitz because none of the candidates received the required number of votes right away. In the second ballot on Sunday, a simple majority was enough.

Zwickau: big surprise

The CDU politician Carsten Michaelis won the election for the district office in the district of Zwickau by a hair's breadth. In the end, the Union politician was only ten votes ahead of his challenger Dorothee Obst from the Free Voters. Both received 35.9 percent of the votes. Absolutely 26,679 voters voted for Michaelmas and 26,669 for Obst. Andreas Gerold from the AfD (19.1 percent), Jens Juraschka from the SPD (7.2 percent) and Jens Haustein (1.8 percent) from the party dieBasis played no role. Voter turnout was just 28.9 percent. The result of fruit is considered a big surprise.

Görlitz: AfD candidate failed again

CDU politician Stephan Meyer is the new district administrator in the district of Görlitz. In the second round in the evening with 56.4 percent of the votes against Sebastian Wippel (AfD / 35.8 percent) and individual applicant Sylvio Ingo Arndt (7.8 percent). Voter turnout was just 39.8 percent. The long-time incumbent Bernd Lange did not appear again. Meyer was formerly Parliamentary Secretary of the CDU parliamentary group in the state parliament. Wippel had already failed in the Görlitz mayoral election in 2019.

Vogtland: Clear victory for the mayor of Klingenthal

The Lord Mayor of Klingenthal, Thomas Hennig, clearly won the district election in Vogtland for the CDU. In the second ballot on Sunday, 63.4 percent of voters voted for the 44-year-old. In the first ballot three weeks ago, his entry into the district office failed because of the absolute majority. His competitors from the AfD and Die Linke scored 26.4 and 10.2 percent, respectively. Voter turnout was 32.5 percent.

Erzgebirge: Free voters displace AfD from third place

The CDU asserted itself in the district election in the Ore Mountains. In the second ballot, her candidate Rico Anton got the most votes with 40.1 percent. Volker Weber from the Free Voters came second with 33.8 percent. AfD candidate Torsten Gahler achieved 16.3 percent, Stefan Hartung from the far-right Freie Sachsen 9.8 percent. Voter turnout was reported at 38.1 percent. 44-year-old Anton has a degree in administration and has been a member of the state parliament since 2014.

Central Saxony: Non-party wins with the Greens and the Left

The non-party Neubauer defied the CDU from the district of Central Saxony. 55.6 percent of the voters for the previous mayor of Augustusburg. AfD man Rolf Weigand came in second (24.1 percent) and CDU candidate Sven Liebhauser in third place (20.4), as the State Office for Statistics informed about the preliminary result. Neubauer's candidacy had been supported by the SPD, the Left and the Greens. The turnout on Sunday was 36.6 percent.

Bautzen: CDU with a new incumbent

The district office in the district of Bautzen remains in the hands of the CDU. The previous Vice District Administrator Udo Witschas was able to clearly win the race for the chief post in the district. Witschas won the second ballot with 43.5 percent of the votes against AfD politician Frank Peschel (27 percent) and left-wing politician Alex Theile (23.9 percent). Individual candidate Tobias Jantsch (5.5 percent) had no chance. Voter turnout was 36.7 percent. The long-standing CDU incumbent Michael Harig did not stand for election.