Saxony-Anhalt's newly elected state parliament was due to hold its constitutive sitting at 11:00 in Magdeburg, opened by the outgoing president, Gunnar Schellenberger of the CDU, and then chaired by Eva von Angern, the oldest member. [E2][E16] Alternative for Germany, which won the state election with about 44% of the vote, wants the state's highest-ranking politician chosen from its ranks for the first time in the party's history. [E3][E13]
AfD holds 39 seats, matching the CDU, Social Democrats, Greens and Left combined, and is by far the largest group in the new Landtag. [E6][E7] BSW confirmed again on Monday that its five deputies would vote for the nominee, 35-year-old Tobias Rausch. [E17][E20] He has sat in the Landtag since 2016, is general secretary of the Saxony-Anhalt AfD, and is a long-time close associate of Ulrich Siegmund. [E20][E21] The two groups want to put up 44 votes for him, enough for a majority. [E8] If he is elected, he would be the first AfD president of a German state parliament. [E4]
Domestic intelligence in the state has classified the AfD as confirmed far-right. [E5] If the vote succeeds, he would be the first politician from a state association with that classification to hold the office in the Federal Republic. [E14] After its strongest result to date, the party is taking seats in the physical centre of the chamber. [E12]
Eva von Angern, the Left's floor leader, said she doubts his fitness for the office, and that he received several calls to order in previous terms for loud personal clashes with vice-president Keding. [E19][E10] A woman told the German press agency that BSW was ending the 'Brandmauer-Idiotie', the firewall against voting with AfD, and that the strongest group in a Landtag should supply the president. [E1] The CDU is recommending that its deputies abstain. [E9]
The Solidarisches Magdeburg alliance and other groups called an action day from 8:00 to 14:00, and an appeal said the Landtag should be surrounded from all sides. [E11][E15] Police said five rallies were registered. [E18] AfD is bidding for the presidency on its own seats plus BSW's pledged votes, and the vote is not in.