AfD becomes the strongest force in the Salzgitter city council and moves into the OB runoff election

Salzgitter is becoming a stronghold of the AfD in Lower Saxony: The AfD has become the strongest force in the Salzgitter city council by a narrow margin. The party is also still in the running for the mayoral election in the city.

Of all the votes cast in the city council election, the party received 27.39 percent. This put the AfD just ahead of the SPD (25.85 percent) and the CDU (23.23). The Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Lower Saxony classifies the AfD as a right-wing extremist object of observation. The party is defending itself legally.

In the fight for the mayor's office in Salzgitter, AfD candidate Patricia Mair is also going into the runoff election against incumbent Frank Klingebiel (CDU). Klingebiel received 45.61 percent of the votes, Mair got 25.67.

The incumbent won at the first attempt five years ago

In the previous election in 2021, Klingebiel won an absolute majority with 54.91 percent of the votes. At the time, his CDU was in second place in the city council, behind the SPD. The AfD ranked third with around 10 percent

Salzgitter has a large proportion of migrants, social problems and an above-average unemployment rate. The city recently attracted nationwide attention when the city council voted by a majority in December 2025 to examine whether asylum seekers should be required to work. Around 100,000 people live in the city, which is an amalgamation of several places.

AfD also improved significantly nationwide

The AfD also did well across the country in Lower Saxony. According to a projection by Infratest dimap published by NDR shortly after 10 p.m., the party became the third strongest force with 16.5 percent of the vote. This meant she was able to more than triple her result of 4.6 percent in the previous local elections.

The Lower Saxony state chairman of the AfD, Ansgar Schledde, therefore saw his party as the “clear winner of the evening”. According to a statement, he said: "The AfD has been a local party since today and we will go into the state elections strengthened with this enormous support and the newly established roots."