Tobias Rausch is 35 and has served in the parliament for 10 years. He is the AfD group's parliamentary manager and a close confidant of local AfD leader Ulrich Siegmund. Rausch secured 48 votes in the secret ballot, with 29 against and five abstentions, making him the first AfD politician ever elected president of a German state parliament. He had the support of the left-wing populist BSW, and at least four votes came from other parties, since the AfD and BSW together hold only 44 seats. Although the AfD came first in September, it finished three seats short of an outright majority.
After the vote, Rausch called for an end to the cross-party refusal to cooperate with the AfD. "The days of political firewalls should be a thing of the past," he said.
Susan Sziborra-Seidlitz, co-leader of the regional Greens, described the result as a watershed moment and said "a line has been crossed." She added: "We will not let ourselves be intimidated, and we will not sit by when rights are curtailed either here or for people in the state."
As speaker, Rausch will chair debates, control access to the parliament building and represent the legislature at official events.
About 400 protesters gathered outside the state parliament in Magdeburg ahead of the session.
Siegmund is seeking to become state premier and has said the first round of voting will take place in December. He needs 42 votes in the 83-seat legislature. The BSW has refused to join a coalition with the AfD. It has said it will abstain and back a non-partisan candidate instead. Siegmund has raised the possibility of new elections if he falls short.
