Tobias Rausch of the Alternative for Germany was elected president of the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament on the first ballot with 48 of 82 votes, the first AfD state-parliament speaker in Germany.
Tobias Rausch of the Alternative for Germany was elected president of the Saxony-Anhalt Landtag on Tuesday at the chamber's constitutive sitting in Magdeburg. Die Zeit reported that he won on the first secret ballot with 48 of 82 votes cast.
The AfD group holds 39 seats after the 6 September state election, in which the party won nearly 44 percent but missed an absolute majority. The 48 votes mean Rausch received support beyond his own group. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, with five seats, had said it would back him.
Rausch, 35, a trained property manager, has sat in the Landtag since 2016. The state domestic intelligence agency classifies the Saxony-Anhalt AfD as a confirmed far-right extremist organisation.
Mainstream parties have maintained a firewall against governing with the AfD. Electing a speaker is a parliamentary office rather than a coalition agreement, but it is the first time the party has held a state-parliament presidency in the Federal Republic.
dpa had reported earlier on Tuesday that the new parliament would open with the AfD seeking the chair. Die Zeit's later dispatch confirmed the result.
People Sentiments Mixed
- Die Zeit described the result as historic for the AfD.
- Other parties' firewall against coalition talks remains in place even as some deputies backed Rausch in a secret ballot.