Representatives of the Left Party and the Greens have expressed shock at the election of AfD politician Tobias Rausch as President of the State Parliament of Saxony-Anhalt. This is “more than just a breach of the dam,” said Left co-parliamentary group leader Sören Pellmann. The day will go down in history. The following generations would ask for a long time: "What did you do, what did you do to stop this?"
Rausch is “the first right-wing extremist parliamentary speaker since Hermann Göring,” said Heidi Reichinnek, who, along with Pellmann, is the parliamentary group leader of the Left Party. She accused the CDU and the BSW in Saxony-Anhalt of having become a stirrup holder for the AfD. "When it came to elevating a right-wing extremist to the highest office, nine out of 15 members of the CDU/CSU consciously decided to pave this path for him, by voting yes or abstaining."
This is "the next big step towards the seizure of power by a party that is the spiritual heir to those who led this country into its darkest time." Against this background, anyone who abstains "has no attitude," said Reichninnek. "Anyone who gives their vote to a right-wing extremist has lost all right to call themselves a democrat." The left-wing politician accused the BSW of having "thrown themselves in the dust in front of the right-wing extremists."
As expected, at the constitutive meeting of the new state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt, Rausch was elected president of the state parliament. The BSW had announced in advance that it would vote for the AfD candidate. The AfD and BSW together have 44 votes, but Rausch received 48 yes votes. Since the election is secret, one can only guess where the additional votes came from.
“But none of us said we would vote yes.”
The CDU parliamentary group leader Sven Schulze had previously recommended to his MPs to abstain from the election. However, there were only five abstentions in total. The CDU has 15 MPs, one of whom was missing from the meeting. After the election, Schulze said that it was clear in the morning that not everyone wanted to follow the recommendation. Some had indicated that they wanted to vote no. “But none of us said we would vote yes,” said Schulze.
The parliamentary group leader of the CDU and CSU in the German Bundestag, Thorsten Frei, said it was a secret election "and of course, in principle, everyone is eligible." He doesn't allow himself to speculate on this. “The fact that this is the case is, in my view, extremely questionable and worrying,” said Frei.
A statement from AfD federal chairmen Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla said that support had been received from the ranks of the CDU parliamentary group. “The fire wall in Magdeburg has finally come down,” write Weidel and Chrupalla. "The years of exclusion of our party have finally come to an end today." ZEIT research suggests an agreement between the CDU and AfD.
SPD General Secretary Tim Klüssendorf called on the CDU to clarify the voting behavior of the MPs. "The election of an AfD politician as president of the state parliament in Saxony-Anhalt is fatal for the people in Saxony-Anhalt and far beyond," Klüssendorf told the Rheinische Post. The BSW consciously decided to elect a politician from a right-wing extremist party to the head of a German parliament for the first time since 1945.
Haßelmann demands a “crystal clear explanation” from Chancellor Merz
The co-leader of the Green Party in the Bundestag, Britta Haßelmann, spoke of a danger to democracy in Germany. In an interview with the dpa news agency, she called Rausch's election a fatal event. The AfD missed an absolute majority and does not represent the majority of the population in Saxony-Anhalt. With its support of Rausch, the BSW has “said goodbye to the democratic spectrum”.
Haßelmann also said that there were apparently also CDU votes for Rausch. This also raises the question of how reliable the CDU is for the upcoming prime ministerial election in December. The Green politician called on the Federal Chancellor and CDU chairman Friedrich Merz to end his “droning silence”. “I expect a crystal clear, unambiguous explanation,” said Haßelmann.
Carola Veit (SPD), the President of the Hamburg Parliament, also commented on Rausch's election. Respect for the office remains necessary, she told ZEIT. "But respect does not mean leniency." Where decisions are made in a partisan, undemocratic manner or against the rules of the house, they must be objected to. Veit called the fact that Rausch should be president of the state parliament and parliamentary manager at the same time an “unusual decision”. The neutrality of a state parliament president is at risk if he is also involved in day-to-day party politics.
The nationwide “resist” action alliance and local initiatives demonstrated in front of the state parliament with more than 500 people.
