Overview
- Sebastian Ehlers of the CDU won Schwerin’s mayoral runoff Sunday with 54% to Mandy Pfeifer’s 46% on a ballot‑box turnout of 41.6%, not counting postal votes.
- He will succeed SPD politician Rico Badenschier, who left office at the end of 2025 after clashes with the city council.
- Ehlers faces a council where the AfD is the largest faction, and he said he aims to forge majorities and tackle the city’s tight finances and planned projects such as the state garden show.
- CDU state chairman Daniel Peters called it an outstanding result and said it signals encouragement for the state vote in September.
- Elsewhere in the runoffs, the SPD held Wismar as Frank Junge beat the AfD’s Manuela Medrow 68.2% to 31.8%, and independent Tino Spiegelberg won Ueckermünde with 54.2%.