After 35 years, the SPD loses the mayoral office in Potsdam to independent candidate Noosha Aubel. She won the runoff with 72.9 percent of the votes against the SPD candidate. She is the first woman in the position since reunification.
In the Brandenburg state capital of Potsdam, independent Noosha Aubel has clearly won the runoff for the office of mayor. With 72.9 percent of the votes, she defeated SPD candidate Severin Fischer, who received 27.1 percent. Voter turnout was 42.5 percent.
Aubel, previously the city's deputy mayor for education, had already led in the first round three weeks ago with 34.0 percent ahead of Fischer's 16.9 percent. She was supported by the Greens, Volt, the Alliance for Reason and Justice, and a voters' group. Since 1990, Social Democrats had held the office, including the prominent Matthias Platzeck, who later became Brandenburg's minister president. Aubel's victory is seen as a small sensation and marks the first female mayor since reunification.
The future mayor expressed being moved: "I am overwhelmed," she said on election night. Chants of her name echoed at her election party. "I believe what paid off is that I stayed true to myself, that people got to know me as I am," Aubel explained. She emphasized not promising everything: "Not everything is possible." Instead, she plans to explain to citizens why some things do not work.
Similar developments occurred in other Brandenburg towns. In Frankfurt an der Oder, independent Axel Strasser won with 69.8 percent against AfD candidate Wilko Möller (30.2 percent). In Eisenhüttenstadt, SPD-nominated independent Marko Henkel prevailed with 57 percent over AfD candidate Maik Diepold (43 percent).