(Seoul, Berlin = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Shin-young, Correspondent Kim Gye-yeon = A chairman from a far-right party was elected in the German state legislature for the first time since World War II.
According to the German news agency dpa, Tobias Rausch of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) was elected speaker in the German state assembly election in Saxony-Anhalt on the 6th (local time), receiving 48 out of 82 votes.
This shows that the AfD can still secure coalition forces even though Germany's mainstream political parties have established the so-called 'firewall' principle of not cooperating with the AfD, and it is likely to be a significant turning point in Germany's post-war political history.
The results of this vote came at a time when the AfD is winning a series of victories in state legislative elections and is threatening the ruling centrist conservative Christian Democratic Party (CDU).
In particular, in this election, five lawmakers from the left-wing populist party ‘Alliance for Social Justice and Economic Rationality’ (BSW, formerly the Saarwagenknecht Alliance) also contributed their votes.
AfD had 39 seats, so it was impossible to win the chairmanship alone, but in addition to the 5 votes from BSW, there were 4 breakaway votes from parties that had set up a firewall for AfD.
Progressive camps such as the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Green Party suspected that CDU members voted for the AfD candidate. Unlike the federal parliament, which strictly adheres to the firewall principle, the CDU has often cooperated with the AfD on voting on bills in some regional assemblies where the AfD holds a majority of seats.
In fact, on the same day, AfD member Hanstomas Tilschneider and CDU member Carsten Borghert were each elected as vice-chairman with a majority of votes, while the SPD candidate was defeated. The CDU recommended that 15 of its members abstain in the chairman election, but the total number of abstention votes was only 5.
“I will take different opinions seriously and make decisions in a transparent manner,” Rausch said in his acceptance speech.
A former real estate broker, he is also a close associate of AfD Saxony-Anhalt state premier candidate Ulrich Siegmund.
If Siegmund wants to become prime minister, he will have to cross the firewall once again and join hands with other parties.
Although the AfD won last month's provincial legislative election, it failed to secure a majority of seats, and is in a situation where it must form a coalition or minority government to form a government by December.
BSW, which acts as a 'kingmaker', initially took the position that it could tolerate the formation of an AfD-led government only if a non-partisan person led the state. However, BSW leader Zara Wagenknecht said, “As of today, the possibility of Siegmund being elected as state chancellor has increased,” suggesting the possibility of accepting the Siegmund chancellor card as well.
As the first ever provincial premier belonging to a far-right party became more and more realistic, the SPD held its federal government partner, the CDU, responsible for breaking the firewall by demanding that they hunt down the defecting lawmakers.
Federal Deputy Prime Minister and SPD co-leader Lars Klingweil demanded an explanation from the CDU, saying, "Electing a far-right figure to such a public office breaks the taboo." SPD members of the Bundestag held a protest this evening by marching through downtown Berlin carrying a booklet of the Basic Law (Constitution).
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, a member of this party, sang the national anthem with lawmakers at Berlin's Bebelplatz, where the German version of the bunkering incident took place in 1933 during the Nazi era, and then claimed, "Today is a day of anger, a day of disappointment at having learned nothing from history and repeating it."
