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Tobias Rausch of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) was elected speaker of the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament on Tuesday, the first time a far-right party has won the post in Germany’s post-World War II history, according to the German Press Agency (dpa).
The 35-year-old secured the position in the first round of voting in Magdeburg, receiving 48 votes in favour, 29 against and five abstentions.
The AfD won 43.8% of the vote in the state election on September 6, the largest share of any party, but did not secure an absolute majority. The left-populist BSW, which holds five seats in the state legislature, had said it would support Rausch, citing the tradition that the party with the most seats should hold the speakership.
The AfD and BSW caucuses together have 44 members. The vote was held by secret ballot.
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the BfV, has classified the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt as a confirmed far-right extremist group.
The Social Democrats, the Greens and The Left had said they would oppose Rausch’s election. The caucus leadership of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) recommended that its members abstain.
During the previous legislative term, several AfD candidates for the post of vice-speaker failed to win approval, leaving the position vacant.
Hundreds of people demonstrated outside the parliament building before its opening session, chanting “Nazis out”. Protesters carried banners reading “No cooperation with right-wing extremists” and “Never again fascism”. The rally was primarily directed against the election of an AfD speaker.
