Tobias Rausch of Alternative for Germany was elected speaker of the Saxony-Anhalt parliament, the first AfD member to hold a state or federal leadership post.
Tobias Rausch of Alternative for Germany was sworn in and elected president of the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament, the Christian Science Monitor reported. It is the first time an AfD politician has held a leadership post at state or federal level.
The party won 44 percent in Saxony-Anhalt's September election, its best state result. Deutschlandfunk's Wednesday press review said German papers treated the vote as a break in the postwar practice of keeping the party, which the domestic intelligence service classifies as confirmed right-wing extremist in that state, out of presiding offices.
Tagesspiegel, cited by Deutschlandfunk, said the firewall built by other parties had failed in public view. Volksstimme in Magdeburg reported that the CDU had said its members would abstain, and that the result showed that pledge did not hold. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung quoted a Green parliamentary leader saying a boundary had been crossed.
The speakership is not the state premiership. Ulrich Siegmund is seeking that post in December. Cicero, cited in the same press review, said a secret ballot and possible CDU defections would decide whether he can assemble a majority.
Rausch has said he will conduct the office across party lines. No coalition agreement or change of minister-president was announced with the speakership vote.
People Sentiments Mixed
- Tagesspiegel described the vote as the firewall collapsing.
- Volksstimme said the CDU abstention pledge did not hold.
- A Green leader said a boundary had been crossed.