The AfD's Tobias Rausch was elected speaker of Saxony-Anhalt's state parliament on Tuesday, marking the first time the far-right party has held such a post in Germany.
A candidate for Germany's AfD was elected parliament speaker in the state of Saxony Anhalt Tuesday, the first time a far-right party has held such a post in the country since 1945.
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Lawmakers gathered for the first time since the AfD's landslide election victory in the eastern region last month, with 48 MPs voting for the party's Tobias Rausch as speaker and 29 against.
The AfD won the state election on 6 September with 43.8 percent and now holds 39 of the 83 seats. As the largest parliamentary group, it has the right to nominate the president. For the election itself, however, a simple majority of valid votes cast is sufficient.
This means Rausch is reliant on votes from other parties. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), with five deputies, has announced it will back him. The conservative CDU, the Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the Left Party intend to vote against the AfD candidate. If the BSW deputies vote for Rausch, he will have the votes he needs.
Why is this election so significant?
The AfD's state branch in Saxony-Anhalt is classified as a confirmed right-wing extremist organisation by the state office for the protection of the constitution, the domestic intelligence agency, which is a department within the CDU-led Interior Ministry. Observers therefore see Rausch's possible election as a political watershed.
The office of president of the state parliament is not merely ceremonial: the president chairs the plenary sessions and the council of elders and heads the parliamentary administration. Political scientist Nicolas Spohn told the magazine Focus that the president's power lies "above all in procedural issues and powers relating to the rules of the house".
Spohn stressed that it remains open how an AfD politician would actually exercise the office. Rausch has offered his own description of his political style. "I am not a hardliner, I am pragmatic," he said, according to the German Press Agency. He wants "to take the interests of everyone into account as far as possible".
The culture of debate in parliament, he said, should be "tough on substance but fair to individuals".
The election of the speaker of the state parliament does not decide who will lead the future state government. Nevertheless, it is likely to be closely watched.
AfD lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund is aiming to be elected minister-president, the head of the state government, in December and needs at least 42 votes to do so.