Leaders from across Germany’s political spectrum have condemned the election of a member of the country’s neo-fascist, ultranationalist NPD political party as the head of a town council in the state of Hesse.

Stefan Jagsch, who ran unopposed, was elected unanimously as the head of the Altenstadt municipality, 30 kilometres from Frankfurt.

He was voted in by the seven-member board which included representatives of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU party, as well as members of the centre-left SPD and the liberal FDP.

SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbell tweeted on Saturday evening that the decision was “incomprehensible and impossible to justify”, while his CDU counterpart Paul Ziemiak said on Sunday that the election was “unacceptable” and needed to be corrected.

Werner Zientz, a CDU representative in the council, said that the board “had not taken the process very seriously”, while a joint statement from regional CDU representatives said the party was “horrified” and “shocked” at the decision.

Not all CDU representatives however are upset with the decision. Norbert Szilasko, a member of the council who voted in favour of Mr Jagsch’s appointment, told the Hessenschau news network that the non-partisan council based the vote on the new representative’s skills rather than his political views.