(de-news.net) – Tobias Rausch of the right-leaning AfD has been elected president of Saxony-Anhalt’s state parliament, marking the first time the party has secured such a post in a German state legislature. He won 48 of 82 votes, four more than the AfD and BSW jointly control, raising questions about support from other lawmakers. Also elected was AfD candidate for the deputy presidency Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, despite the BSW opposing his candidacy. The result has intensified criticism and renewed debate over political barriers around the AfD. CDU lawmakers face calls to explain their voting behavior, while protests took place outside the legislature. The stakes are expected to rise in December, when AfD candidate Ulrich Siegmund seeks to become minister-president. The AfD won 43.8 percent in September’s election and narrowly missed an absolute majority.
For the first time, the Alternative for Germany, or AfD, has secured the presidency of a German state legislature, with Tobias Rausch elected president of the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament. Rausch won 48 of the 82 votes cast in Tuesday’s secret ballot, exceeding the combined 44 seats held by the AfD and the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, or BSW, whose five lawmakers had announced their support. The four additional votes have prompted questions about whether deputies from other parliamentary groups also backed the AfD candidate.
The result drew immediate criticism from opposition parties. Eva von Angern, the Left Party’s leading candidate and the parliament’s age president who opened the constituent session, had already criticized Rausch’s expected election by invoking the historical role of Hermann Göring, who served as Reichstag president from 1932 to 1945. The SPD likewise warned against allowing a politician from a party it regards as far-right to assume the parliamentary presidency. Susan Sziborra-Seidlitz, the Green Party’s parliamentary leader, said her party would not be intimidated and would continue defending freedom and human dignity in Saxony-Anhalt.
AfD also wins Deputy Presidency
The AfD also succeeded in securing the election of its candidate for deputy parliament president. Hans-Thomas Tillschneider received 44 votes, although the AfD controls only 39 of the legislature’s seats. There were 38 votes against him and no abstentions. Unlike its position on Rausch, the BSW had announced beforehand that it would not support Tillschneider. Because the other parliamentary groups withdrew their candidates before the first round, Tillschneider was the only candidate on the ballot and therefore needed to receive more affirmative than negative votes.
Rausch used his inaugural address to call for a less confrontational political relationship with the AfD. The 35-year-old argued that the era of political barriers between parties should come to an end and said the legislature should place substantive policymaking above partisan considerations. He also pledged to exercise the presidency in an impartial manner. Rausch had previously characterized himself as pragmatic rather than a hard-liner.
Opposition raises democratic and institutional concerns
The opening session had already underscored the broader political tensions surrounding the new legislature. Von Angern called on lawmakers to recognize their responsibility for democracy and the protection of minorities while warning against what she described as a growing coarseness in political debate. She criticized both the AfD, which emerged as the strongest force in the state election, and parliamentary conduct in recent years, arguing that political opponents had increasingly been dehumanized and shouted down.
Additional criticism has focused on Rausch’s continued position as secretary-general of the state AfD. Critics argue that retaining a senior party leadership role could conflict with the more conciliatory and institutionally neutral responsibilities associated with the parliamentary presidency. The other candidates for deputy president were Armin Willingmann of the SPD, Tillschneider of the AfD and Carsten Borchert of the CDU. The BSW’s decision to distinguish between Rausch and Tillschneider has further highlighted the different political calculations surrounding the two votes.
Extra votes put state CDU under scrutiny
The unexplained votes behind Rausch’s victory have become a separate point of contention. Only five abstentions were recorded even though CDU parliamentary leader and outgoing Minister-President Sven Schulze had recommended that all 15 members of his parliamentary group abstain. Rausch’s 48 votes were four more than the 44 seats jointly held by the AfD and BSW, indicating that additional lawmakers supported him.
Schulze said the secret nature of the ballot made it impossible to determine where those additional votes came from. He acknowledged that some members of the CDU group had indicated they might vote against Rausch, but said no member had told him that they intended to vote for the AfD politician. The result therefore left open the question of whether individual CDU lawmakers had disregarded the recommendation of their parliamentary leadership.
The issue quickly became a subject of demands for clarification from the SPD. Secretary-General Tim Klüssendorf called on the CDU to determine whether members of its parliamentary group had voted for Rausch. He said four lawmakers beyond the AfD and BSW had apparently supported the candidate and argued that the CDU should explain who among its ranks considered such a decision appropriate. The dispute thus shifted from the outcome of a secret ballot to the broader question of whether established parties are maintaining their political distance from the AfD.
Protests highlight wider political conflict
Left Party leader Luigi Pantisano also accused the CDU of helping Rausch secure the presidency. He warned that weakening political barriers against the AfD could create openings through which the party might eventually gain government power. Looking ahead to the next major test of the political balance in Saxony-Anhalt, Pantisano called on CDU leader Friedrich Merz to clarify how the parliamentary outcome had occurred.
Outside the state parliament in Magdeburg, several hundred people demonstrated against the AfD on Tuesday. Protesters gathered on Domplatz and read passages from Germany’s Basic Law, while the Magdeburg Cathedral was illuminated with political messages warning against a repetition of the country’s authoritarian past. The demonstrations underscored the wider significance opponents attach to the AfD’s growing institutional position in the state.
December vote will test political boundaries
The political confrontation is likely to intensify in December, when AfD candidate Ulrich Siegmund plans to seek election as minister-president. Siegmund has said he would stand only in the first ballot and would withdraw his candidacy if he failed to secure a majority. The AfD won 43.8 percent of the vote in the Sept. 6 state election, emerging as the largest parliamentary force while falling three seats short of an absolute majority.
The BSW, which holds five seats, has said it intends to abstain in the vote for minister-president. In the absence of defections, Siegmund would therefore be expected to need a third ballot, where a simple majority would be sufficient. The December vote could consequently become a further test of whether the political boundaries around the AfD remain intact or whether the party can translate its strong electoral position into executive power.
The AfD’s position in Saxony-Anhalt is particularly contentious because the state’s domestic intelligence agency classifies the party organization as a confirmed far-right extremist organization. Its emergence as the strongest force in the 6 September election, followed by Rausch’s election as parliament president, has therefore placed the question of the party’s institutional role at the center of the new legislative term.
