Overview
- Tobias Rausch of the Alternative for Germany was elected president (speaker) of the Saxony‑Anhalt state parliament on Tuesday with 48 votes, becoming the first far‑right holder of that office in post‑war Germany.
- The AfD holds 39 of 83 seats and remains three seats short of an absolute majority, so it must still win partners or defections to form an executive and to elect its candidate Ulrich Siegmund as minister‑president in December.
- Saxony‑Anhalt's domestic intelligence classifies the local AfD as a confirmed extremist organisation, a status that complicates access to security‑sensitive portfolios and raises legal and oversight questions if the party gains executive power.
- The AfD and the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance used their procedural majority to table a motion calling for Germany to halt military and financial support for Ukraine and to lift Russia sanctions, and migrants in the state report greater fear and demand for counseling.
- Chancellor Friedrich Merz publicly warned that extremism is entering parliaments and urged no cooperation with the AfD, putting pressure on the CDU and testing Germany's long‑standing informal consensus to isolate the far right.