BERLIN
Voters in Hannover, Germany have elected an ethnic Turkish politician as mayor for the first time in the city’s history.
Belit Onay, a 38-year-old parliamentarian from the Green Party, claimed nearly 53% of the vote in a runoff ballot Sunday, beating his rival Eckhard Scholz, an independent candidate backed by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party.
Onay also became the first ethnic Turkish politician to win the mayor’s office in a major German city.
During his election campaign, he promised to transform Hannover into a climate-friendly city, struggle for affordable housing and improve social cohesion.
Read more: German city elects ethnic Turkish mayor for first time
