Dhe SPD candidate Frank Steffen won the runoff election for the district administrator of the Oder-Spree district against the AfD candidate Rainer Galla on Sunday with 52.4 percent of the votes. With 29,963 votes, the mayor of the district town of Beeskow also achieved the approval of 15 percent of those eligible to vote, as the election management announced in the evening. Steffen has thus been elected as the successor to Rolf Lindemann (SPD), who is retiring on August 1st.
Galla came to 47.6 percent and got 27,190 votes. When counting the votes, Galla was ahead for a long time until the results of the postal voting districts were added. There, the SPD candidate had a much higher share of the vote than his AfD competitor. Steffen was relieved after the narrow finish. “I’m satisfied, but I also have to say to the CDU and the Free Voters that they can’t always just rely on the SPD,” he told the German Press Agency.
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The SPD mayor was alluding to the fact that the CDU and the Free Voters had not made any recommendation for the runoff. In contrast, the Alliance Greens and the left had called for the election of Steffen. According to the German District Association, there is currently no district administrator of the AfD nationwide. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution has been monitoring the AfD Brandenburg since 2020 as a suspected right-wing extremist.
After the election, however, Galla spoke of a united front from the other parties against him. “But I am happy and proud that we were able to motivate so many citizens to go to the polls.” At 38.5 percent, turnout in the runoff was slightly higher than in the first ballot.
In the first ballot of the district election on April 23, none of the eight candidates got the required majority, with AfD candidate Galla ahead with 24.8 percent. Steffen came second with 22.5 percent. Voter turnout was 36.7 percent.
The runoff election in the Oder-Spree district was the second direct duel between the SPD and AfD at the municipal level: In the mayoral election in Cottbus in October 2022, SPD candidate Tobias Schick clearly defeated AfD candidate Lars with 68.6 percent Schieske enforced. There, Schick was ahead of Schieske in the first ballot – and several parties signaled support for the SPD.
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