AfD's Tobias Rausch Elected President of Saxony-Anhalt Parliament, a First for the Party

Tobias Rausch of the Alternative for Germany was elected president of the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament on Tuesday, Oct. 6. It is the first time the AfD has led any parliament in Germany.

Rausch, 35, the AfD group's parliamentary manager, won 48 of 82 valid votes in a secret ballot at the opening session of the new Landtag in Magdeburg, the parliament said. Twenty-nine members voted against him and five abstained. Eighty-two of the chamber's 83 members attended.

The AfD holds 39 seats. The BSW, which had announced it would vote for Rausch, holds five. The secret ballot does not show which members cast the other four yes votes. Christian Democratic Union leaders had told their members to abstain.

In his first remarks from the chair, Rausch said that "the days of political firewalls should be a thing of the past." German parties use the term firewall for their refusal to cooperate with the AfD.

Members also elected two vice presidents. Hans-Thomas Tillschneider of the AfD won 44 votes to 38, and Carsten Borchert of the CDU also won a seat.

The state's domestic intelligence service classifies the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt as right-wing extremist. Susan Sziborra-Seidlitz, who leads the Green group, took the floor right after the vote to criticize Rausch's election.

The AfD finished first in the state election on Sept. 6 but fell short of a majority. Its lead candidate, Ulrich Siegmund, plans to stand for premier in December.