Saxony-Anhalt parliament sits after AfD win
The newly elected state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt is poised to hold its first session on Tuesday, over four weeks after the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party won elections there with almost 44% of the vote.
The AfD holds 39 seats in the legislature, the same number of seats as the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Left Party, Greens and Social Democrats (SPD) together.
During the session, parliamentarians are to vote for a speaker, with the AfD, as the strongest force, empowered to nominate the first candidate.
The AfD has put forward long-serving parliamentarian Tobias Rausch, 35, for the post, a choice that the populist BSW, which holds 5 seats, has pledged to back.
All the other parties refuse to work with the AfD under a policy known as the “firewall,” and the CDU chairman in the state has advised members of his party to abstain from the vote.
If Rausch is elected, he will become the first AfD speaker of a state parliament in Germany.
However, if he fails to be elected in a first round of voting, all the other parties can put forward their own candidates.
There will be no vote on who will lead the state.
The session will be accompanied by protests by civil society groups who see the AfD, which has been classified as a “confirmed extremist” organization by domestic intelligence in the state, as a danger to Germany’s democracy.
