Berlin, October 7th, 2026 (The Berlin Spectator) – For the first time since Nazi Germany existed, a member of an extremist right-wing party is President of a German state parliament. Tobias Rausch, an AfD member, was elected in Saxony-Anhalt’s Landtag in Magdeburg with 48 votes. The AfD holds 39 seats and the extremist left-wing BSW, whoch supports it, has five, which makes 44 votes. Twenty-nine lawmakers voted against Rausch, and five abstained.
Who provided the extra four votes is unclear, because members cast their ballots individually and in secret in a voting booth. Some observers suspect they came from the CDU. The party’s parliamentary leadership had recommended abstaining, which would have meant 14 abstentions. The SPD, the Greens and Die Linke had announced they would vote no. In the previous legislative period, several AfD candidates for vice president failed repeatedly, and the post remained vacant.
Rausch, 35, has been a member of the Landtag since 2016 and is a trained real estate agent. In the past, he often attacked the other parliamentary groups sharply. In his first speech as president, he promised impartiality. “I will not run this office as the president of a parliamentary group, but as president of the entire state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt”, he said. He added that the same rules would apply to everyone.
Accusations of Nepotism
Earlier this year, Rausch was among several AfD politicians facing accusations of nepotism. Some of his siblings were temporarily employed by a member of the Bundestag, and he said he had not been involved in hiring them. He also briefly employed several players of a soccer club in Staßfurt in his office, a club he chaired at the time. He denied any wrongdoing.
The party’s chairlady Weidel said in Berlin that the AfD felt vindicated. She claimed her party had known in advance that Rausch would be elected so clearly. According to her, the AfD’s state parliament group had held talks with other groups and individual lawmakers and reached an understanding on rules of conduct. She said she hoped the CDU at the federal level would return to reason.
“In a democracy, people have to talk to each other, and you cannot hide behind undemocratic firewalls”, she said, using the common term “Brandmauer” for the CDU’s refusal to cooperate with her party. Weidel stated the AfD’s hand was extended. Co-leader Tino Chrupalla described Rausch’s speech as very good and unifying.
One Round of Voting
The vote also raises the question of what lies ahead in December. Ulrich Siegmund, who led the AfD to victory in the state election in September, wants to be elected the first AfD governor of a German state. The state’s domestic intelligence agency classifies the party in Saxony-Anhalt as confirmed right-wing extremist.
Siegmund has said he will run in only one round of voting. During the campaign, he had announced that he would only stand with an absolute majority. The AfD wants to work with the BSW, but the exact arrangement remains unclear. Siegmund says he is also talking to individual lawmakers from other parliamentary groups, whose votes he would probably need.
The session opened with symbolic moments. Siegmund arrived with a black mug reading “Linke Tränen” (“Leftist Tears”), a phrase popular in conservative and right-wing circles that mocks the supposed oversensitivity of political opponents on the left. Eva von Angern of “Die Linke”, who presided as the oldest member, pointed out that the share of women in the new parliament had dropped to 21.7 percent.
Seating Arrangement
She also criticized the AfD for acting “drunk with power” in procedural matters after its victory. The AfD had secured a seat in the center of the chamber instead of on the far right. Green parliamentary leader Susan Sziborra-Seidlitz said her party intends to take the AfD “in a democratic pincer” because of the new seating arrangement. Laughter came from AfD benches.
Several hundred people protested on Magdeburg’s Domplatz, where they displayed a banner reading “No cooperation with the extreme right” and read aloud from the constitution. Some AfD lawmakers visited the rally and were met with whistles.
