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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Kate Connolly in Berlin

Far-right AfD wins local election in ‘watershed moment’ for German politics

Robert Sesselmann of Alternative für Deutschland  speaks at an election event in Sonneberg on Sunday
Robert Sesselmann of Alternative für Deutschland speaks at an election event in Sonneberg on Sunday. Photograph: Ferdinand Merzbach/News5/AFP/Getty Images

The far-right Alternative für Deutschland has won a district council election in Germany for the first time, in what is being referred to as a watershed moment in the country’s politics.

The eastern town of Sonneberg, in the state of Thuringia, elected Robert Sesselmann to the post of district administrator, the equivalent of a mayor, with 52.8% of the vote, ousting the Christian Democrats’ (CDU) Jurgen Köpper on 47.2%.

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