AfD politician becomes first party member to lead a German state parliament

Filed 2h ago · Via NV · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Circus of Freaks

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: European Parliament Multimedia Centre · European Parliament · via Wikimedia Commons

Saxony-Anhalt's state parliament elected AfD's Tobias Rausch as its president in a secret ballot, 48 votes to 29 with five abstentions, making him the first AfD member to lead a German state legislature. The AfD and the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance together hold 44 of the chamber's seats, meaning Rausch picked up support beyond his own bloc.

Rausch intends to keep his party post as state AfD secretary-general while also presiding over the chamber. AfD leader Ulrich Siegmund called the vote a test run for his own bid to become the state's minister-president in December's election.

The AfD also nominated Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, described as one of the state branch's most hard-line figures, for a vice-president post. A veteran lawmaker called the day 'a dark day for parliamentarism' and invoked Hermann Göring as the last far-right figure to hold such a post.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Thirty-five years old and already running two jobs at once, the new parliament president is holding onto his party post like a man who doesn't trust the furniture he's sitting in. The fact that it took support from outside his own party to get him there tells you plenty about where the cracks in that alliance already run. December's election will show whether this was a dress rehearsal or the whole show.

Source: Read the original at NV → Scored: Circus of Freaks · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

Read it scored.

Every story, every clown, every kazoo — in your pocket. Music plays automatically. Regret is optional.

GET IT ON iOS GET IT ON ANDROID

OR FOLLOW THE DESK ON BLUESKY →