Runoff elections today: Who will be the new mayor in Sassenberg and Ahlen?

Runoff elections today: Who will be the new mayor in Sassenberg and Ahlen?

Exciting mayoral elections are taking place tomorrow in the North Rhine-Westphalia region. After the local elections on September 14, 2025, the decision-makers for the coming years will be elected in Ahlen, Sassenberg and Telgte. In Sassenberg, incumbent Josef Uphoff (independent) is running against challenger Christian Borgmann from the FWG. In the last election, Uphoff got 46.4 percent of the vote, which was not enough for an absolute majority, and so now the runoff election is coming up. How radiowaf.de Reportedly, voters in Sassenberg were more than active in the last election, with voter turnout at 61.6 percent.

The candidates engage in an exciting duel. Uphoff was able to prevail as the strongest candidate out of the three applicants; The order of votes was: Uphoff (CDU) with 46.4%, Borgmann (FWG) with 31.2% and Johannes Philipper as an individual candidate with 22.4%. While the election campaign in Sassenberg was characterized by intensive discussions, Uphoff enjoys a good reputation among the population. Sassenberg, with around 14,600 residents, is located northeast of Warendorf and offers good transport connections via three federal highways, which is important not only for the citizens themselves, but also for the local companies.

Election campaigns in Ahlen and Telgte

A look at Ahlen shows that Matthias Harman from the CDU and Dirk Schlebes from the SPD are running in the election. Here too, the previous mayor Alexander Berger was unable to stand for re-election, which makes the competition for the mayoralty even more interesting. The mood among voters is tense and the decision will certainly be neck and neck.

There is a similar situation in Telgte: Here Wolfgang Pieper is foregoing another term in office, so Katja Behrendt from the Greens and Oliver Niedostadek from the FDP have to fight for the voters' votes. This competition will also be followed with keen interest because voter turnout will play a crucial role.

Regional context and challenges

This year's elections are not only important for the cities mentioned, but also play a role in the larger context of local elections in North Rhine-Westphalia. With around 13.7 million citizens, the elections on September 14th were characterized by a high level of interest. The CDU remains the strongest force, but the result shows that the AfD was able to massively increase its results. In many cities and municipalities, including Gelsenkirchen, Duisburg and Hagen, there are also runoff elections to be decided. waz.de has provided an interactive map that clearly presents the results.

Now it is time to count the votes of the voters and elect the new incumbents. On September 28, 2025 we will know more about the fate of the cities of Sassenberg, Ahlen and Telgte. It remains exciting!