SPD demands CDU explain AfD politician's election as Saxony-Anhalt parliament president

Tobias Rausch, an AfD politician, was elected president of the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament (Landtag) with 48 votes at the constitutive session in Magdeburg on 6 October, according to Tagesschau. His party colleague Hans-Thomas Tillschneider was elected vice president. The AfD and the BSW hold 44 seats between them, and because the vote was secret it is unclear who voted for the AfD candidates, Tagesschau reported.

The CDU parliamentary group leadership had recommended that its 15 lawmakers abstain, but Tagesschau reported there were only five abstentions. The SPD, Greens and Left party had announced they would vote against Rausch; together they hold 24 seats. There were 29 no votes in total.

SPD leader Lars Klingbeil demanded explanations from the CDU. "The fact that the candidate of the AfD, which is classified as confirmed right-wing extremist, was elected president of the state parliament in Saxony-Anhalt with clearly more than the AfD's votes raises very pressing questions," Klingbeil said. "It is a breach of taboo to elect right-wing extremists to such offices," he said, adding that not only the BSW but also the CDU must urgently explain how this came about. SPD general secretary Tim Klüssendorf told the Rheinische Post: "My clear expectation of the CDU is that it promptly clarifies who from its ranks possibly considered this fatal decision right."

Thorsten Frei, the CDU/CSU parliamentary group leader in the Bundestag, said on 6 October: "It is a secret ballot, and so of course, in principle, anyone comes into question." Frei said he would not engage in speculation, adding: "The fact that it is so is, in my view, highly questionable and concerning." Tagesschau reported that CDU leader Friedrich Merz has not commented so far.

Many members of the SPD's Bundestag parliamentary group joined a protest march in central Berlin on 6 October, walking from the Bundestag through the Brandenburg Gate to Bebelplatz, the site of the book burning after the Nazis' 1933 seizure of power, according to Tagesschau. Several lawmakers carried copies of the Basic Law, and Defence Minister Boris Pistorius sang the national anthem after a speech. "This is not a normal day," parliamentary group leader Matthias Miersch said, adding that the SPD felt a duty to show its colours when democracy is under pressure. Miersch said it was the first time since the founding of the Federal Republic that right-wing extremists had been elected to a state parliament presidium, the parliament's leadership body, and that "this must alarm us all."

Tagesschau reported that the Left and the Greens accused the CDU over the vote and that it has become an issue within the coalition. The debate continued over whether the "Brandmauer" — the CDU's distancing from the AfD, as Tagesschau described it — still holds. BSW federal leader Fabio De Masi told the Hamburger Abendblatt: "The 'Brandmauer' has failed."