René Stadtkewitz (AfD) is to become the new mayor of Zehdenick (Oberhavel). In Sunday’s election, he secured 58.4 per cent of the vote, beating his rivals Stephan von Hundelshausen (FDP, 28.6 per cent), Wolf-Gernot Richardt (independent, 7.8 per cent) and Dennis Latzke (Party of Progress, 5.2 per cent).
Voter turnout stood at 52.8 per cent. The quorum was met.
René Stadtkewitz is thus the first directly elected full-time AfD mayor in Brandenburg. Although the state had previously had a full-time mayor with an AfD membership card – Arne Raue in Jüterbog – he was an independent candidate when he was elected in 2011 and re-elected in 2019, and only joined the AfD in 2024. In 2025, he moved to the Bundestag.
As early as 2025, Stadtkewitz had stood against the police officer Alexander Kretzschmar (independent) for the office of mayor of Zehdenick, but was defeated at the time.
Stadtkewitz, a native of Berlin, has been a member of Zehdenick’s town council since the summer of 2024. He had moved to the town on the River Havel with his family just under a year earlier. He is chair of the Committee for Urban Development and Construction. Stadtkewitz was formerly a CDU MP in Berlin and broke with the Christian Democrats in 2010. He founded the party “Die Freiheit”, of which he was federal chairman until 2013. In 2024, he became a member of the AfD.
Oberhavel: René Stadtkewitz wird neuer Bürgermeister von Zehdenick