In the mayoral election in Cottbus, a runoff between the SPD candidate Tobias Schick and the AfD candidate Lars Schieske is necessary. None of the seven candidates received an absolute majority of the votes on Sunday. In the first ballot, Schick was ahead of Schieske (26.4 percent) with 31.8 percent of the votes. This means there will be a runoff election on October 9th.
The AfD has not yet provided a mayor in Germany. The turnout in the Brandenburg city was 53.3 percent, slightly higher than in the last mayor election in 2014 (48.8 percent).
Around 79,000 Cottbus residents were called on Sunday to elect a new city leader for the next eight years. Six candidates and one female candidate entered the race: Thomas Bergner (CDU), Tobias Schick (SPD), Lars Schieske (AfD), Sven Benken (Unser Cottbus), Lysann Kobbe (Die Basis), Felix Sicker (FDP) and Johann Staudinger (single applicant).
