On Tuesday, the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt elected Tobias Rausch, a member of the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), as its new speaker. Rausch, a former estate agent, secured the position in the first round of voting by receiving 48 out of 82 total votes cast. Following his election, the parliament also selected Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, a figure associated with the party's more extreme wing, to serve as Rausch’s deputy.

The election follows a significant performance by the AfD in regional elections held last month, where the party captured nearly 44% of the vote. This result has been characterized by political observers as a major shift in the state's political landscape. The AfD is currently classified as a “rightwing extremist” organization by the intelligence agency operating within Saxony-Anhalt, a designation that has drawn attention to the implications of the party holding a high-ranking parliamentary office. While the election process followed standard parliamentary procedure, the outcome is historically notable as the first instance of a far-right party securing the speaker role in a German state parliament since the post-WWII era.