A German village elected a Syrian refugee as its new mayor on Sunday, the municipality announced in the evening.
Ryyan Alshebl, 29, who fled Syria in 2015, ran as a non-party candidate to become mayor of Ostelsheim in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg. He received 55.41% of the vote.
At the age of 21, Ryyan Alshebl, who also holds a Green Party membership card, fled his hometown of Sweida in southern Syria. He has been working for seven years in the administration of the nearby town hall of Althengstett.
Ryyan Alshebl is probably the first Syrian mayor in southwest Germany. According to the Baden-Württemberg Association of Municipalities, no other candidate of Syrian origin had ever stood for such an election.
