Son of Turkish immigrants wins German mayoral race

BERLIN – A German Green party lawmaker with Turkish roots has won a runoff election to become the mayor of Hannover.

Belit Onay received 52.9% of the vote in Sunday’s election compared with 47.1% for centre-right candidate Eckhard Scholz.

German news agency dpa reported that it is the first time a candidate born to immigrant parents has been elected mayor of one of the country’s 16 state capitals.

Almost 3 million people of Turkish origin live in Germany. Many came to the country decades ago as guest workers, helping fill a labour shortage after World War II.

Onay, a 38-year-old jurist, succeeds Stefan Schostok of the centre-left Social Democrats, who resigned earlier this year.

The Social Democrats had governed the capital of Germany’s northern state of Lower Saxony for more than 70 years.