SPD incumbent Ralf Reinhardt wins third term as Ostprignitz-Ruppin district administrator, defeating AfD challenger in runoff
Incumbent Ralf Reinhardt (SPD) secured 60.6 percent of the vote in Sunday's runoff, handing the AfD its sixth consecutive defeat in a Brandenburg district administrator election this year.
The runoff
Ralf Reinhardt (SPD) won the second-round vote for Ostprignitz-Ruppin's Landrat on Sunday, earning 60.6 percent of the vote against Torsten Arndt of the AfD, who received 39.4 percent. Voter turnout stood at about 46 percent. Reinhardt cleared the required quorum of 15 percent of eligible voters, which translates to 12,540 votes. It was his third eight-year term, but the first he secured by direct election after being appointed by the district council in 2010 and 2018.
- Ralf Reinhardt (SPD)
- 60.6 %
- Torsten Arndt (AfD)
- 39.4 %
The path to the runoff
In the first round on June 7, Reinhardt led with 34.7 percent, followed by Arndt (30.3 percent), independent Thomas Kresse (23.9 percent), and Ronald Mundt of the Free Voters (11.1 percent). The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) called for a boycott of the runoff, urging supporters to stay home or invalidate their ballots. CDU and The Left, which had backed Kresse in the first round, recommended voting for Reinhardt in the runoff to block the AfD. The Greens, who sit in a joint faction with the SPD in the district council, supported Reinhardt from the start.
Political backdrop
Brandenburg's domestic intelligence agency classifies the AfD's state branch as a confirmed right-wing extremist organization. The party had reached runoffs in five of the six Landrat elections in Brandenburg this year but failed to win any. Its only local executive success remains the mayoralty of Zehdenick, won in May by René Stadtkewitz.
