German State Parliament Elects First Far-Right Speaker Since WWII; 'Firewall' Under Strain

AfD's Tobias Rausch Elected State Parliament Speaker
Born in 1990, Former Real Estate Agent

Wins 48 Votes, Exceeding AfD and BSW's Combined Seats
'Firewall Principle' Against Cooperation with Far-Right Parties Breached
Political Debate Over "Who Joined Hands with Him?"

A politician from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has been elected speaker of a state parliament in Germany for the first time. It is the first time since World War II that a far-right party has held the speakership and led a state parliament. The election has sent shockwaves through the political establishment, amid allegations that some lawmakers from the governing party voted for the far-right candidate.

According to German news agency dpa and other outlets on October 7 local time, Tobias Rausch of the AfD was elected the new speaker in the previous day's election for the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament, receiving 48 of 82 votes. There were 29 votes against and five abstentions.

Tobias Rausch (left), the newly elected speaker of the state parliament and a member of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), delivers a speech at the state parliament in Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt, eastern Germany, on the 6th (local time). Rausch was elected that day, becoming Germany's first state parliament speaker from a far-right party since World War II. Magdeburg, Germany = AFP-Yonhap.

Born in 1990, Rausch is 35 and formerly worked as a real estate agent. He joined the AfD in 2013 and has served as a member of the state parliament since 2016. He is also known to be a close ally of Ulrich Siegmund, the AfD's candidate for minister-president of Saxony-Anhalt.

Rausch's election has sparked a debate in German politics over who broke the firewall principle and helped elect a far-right candidate. The "firewall" (Brandmauer) is the principle by which mainstream German parties rule out political cooperation with far-right parties. It grew out of a political culture opposed to the far right, shaped by Germany's historical experience of Nazi rule. The principle was formalized when the governing center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) adopted an official resolution in 2018 rejecting cooperation with the AfD, including forming a coalition government.

One reason the firewall is thought to have been breached is that the AfD and the small Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), which declared its support for Rausch, hold a combined total of just 44 seats. That is four fewer than the 48 votes Rausch received, meaning that at least four lawmakers from other parties must have voted for him. Progressive parties, including the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Greens, suspect that some CDU lawmakers defected and voted for Rausch. In some regional parliaments where the AfD holds a majority of seats, the CDU has occasionally cooperated with it in votes on motions and other matters.

CDU leader and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized the lawmakers, saying, "Anyone who helped the AfD is taking part in the game of extremists and undermining their own credibility." However, he also warned against rushing to judgment, raising the possibility that other parties could be engaging in a political maneuver to shift the blame onto the CDU.

As the AfD has repeatedly become the largest party in state parliaments in the former East Germany in recent months, political turmoil is expected to continue in other regions as well. The AfD won 38.2% of the vote to become the largest party in the state parliament election in northeastern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, held on September 20.

However, analysts say it remains unclear whether the AfD will succeed in forming a state government despite securing the speakership. Reuters reported that mainstream parties are refusing to cooperate with the AfD in accordance with the firewall principle, adding that "the AfD is struggling to turn its electoral victories into actual power."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.