Following the local elections in Lower Saxony, the mayors of the largest cities must defend their positions in a runoff election two weeks later.
In Hanover, incumbent Belit Onay (The Greens) will contest her seat against Axel von der Ohe (SPD), but she holds a clear lead. After accounting for just over half of the votes, Onay secured 44 percent, while von der Ohe received 22 percent. Peter Karst (CDU)-who has recently been affected by an investigation from the public prosecutor’s office concerning the Chamber of Skilled Crafts, of which he is the managing director-is competing neck-and-neck for third place with AfD state parliament member Jessica Schülke, with both garnering around 13 percent.
In Braunschweig, Mayor Thorsten Kornblum (SPD) is also likely to defend his office against Maximilian Pohler (CDU), holding a significant advantage. After the count of two-thirds of the votes, Kornblum reached approximately 43 percent, compared to barely 16 percent for Pohler. The AfD federal representative Mirco Hanker was close behind with about 14 percent, and Michael Walther (The Greens) similarly registered a comparable level of support.
Katharina Pötter (CDU), the incumbent in Osnabrück, will defend her post in a runoff election in two weeks against Volker Bajus (The Greens). After 90 percent of the votes were tallied, Pötter secured around 42 percent, while Bajus received 22 percent. Robert Alferink (SPD) took third place with roughly 17 percent, while candidates Thomas Groß (Left) and Thorsten Wassermann (AfD) were significantly trailing with support rates between 8 and 9 percent.
The runoff in Oldenburg will pit Jascha Rohr (The Greens) against Ulf Prange (SPD), with Prange perhaps holding a slight edge. After 85 percent of the votes were counted, Rohr reached around 30 percent, while Prange obtained approximately 33 percent. Incumbent Jürgen Krogmann (SPD) did not run for re-election after twelve years in office, and there was no AfD candidate.
Attention is also focused on the statewide results from the municipal and district parliamentary elections, though these are not expected until Monday. Although they lack formal political relevance, observers anticipate insights into the overall political mood across the state, particularly regarding a potential strengthening of the AfD. In the last local elections in 2021, the party nationally polled at 4.6 percent and had dropped over three percentage points compared to 2016. However, current opinion polls for the state parliament election, scheduled for September 26, 2027, place the AfD at approximately 20 percent.
