29-year-old Syrian Refugee Elected Mayor in Germany

A Syrian refugee has emerged as the new mayor of a village in Germany.

Ryyan Alshebl was elected after standing as a non-party candidate to become mayor of Ostelsheim in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg.

The municipality declared him the winner Sunday evening after polling the majority of the votes – 55.41 percent.

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.

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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