Ryyan Alshebl, a Syrian refugee has been elected as the mayor of a village in Germany.
Alshebl stood as a non-party candidate to become mayor of Ostelsheim in the Southwestern State of Baden-Wurttemberg.
The municipality declared the Syrian winner of Sunday evening after polling the majority of votes with a total of 55.41 percent.
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The 29-year-old Alshebl defeated non-party candidates, Marco Strauss and Mathias Fey.
The member of the Green Party said his experiences in the election campaign were “mostly positive”.
As mayor, Alshebl disclosed he planned to move to Ostelsheim in the district of Calw.
Alshebl is probably the first Syrian mayor in the southwest of Germany. According to the Association of Municipalities of Baden-Württemberg, there has been no other candidate with Syrian roots for a mayor’s office so far.
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He fled the town of Sweida in the south of Syria in 2015 and joined the administration of Althengstett town hall in 2016.
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Photo credit: Getty
