AfD in Saxony-Anhalt: Right-wing extremists will soon have their first state parliament president

What about nepotism in his state association and his state parliamentary group? “Don’t you have anything else to worry about?” asks Tobias Rausch, the designated first AfD state parliament president, on the phone.

In the last legislative period, he not only employed 4 football players from his village club on a mini-job basis, but 3 of his siblings also worked for an AfD member of the Bundestag. And Rausch's wife still works for the state parliamentary group, where Rausch is currently the parliamentary manager. She is supposed to earn 6,000 euros there. Rausch couldn't say anything about the state's internal commission that was supposed to work through all of this, as he told the taz.

All the more so about his candidacy for the office of President of the State Parliament, for which he wants to get the support of his AfD parliamentary group on Tuesday: "I assume that the parliamentary group will support this. We first want to reverse the rules of procedure so that the strongest faction is entitled to a vice-president in addition to the non-partisan office of president, as is currently the case with the CDU." Rausch could become the first parliamentary speaker of a right-wing extremist party since 1945.

The BSW has already announced that it will co-elect a state parliament president from the AfD, which would give Rausch the necessary simple majority, which they would also like to have for Ulrich Siegmund in the prime ministerial election at the end of the year. Within the party, the election is seen as a test balloon for the first AfD government.

Democratic MPs would be free to refuse to vote for an AfD candidate, as has previously been the rule in other parliaments. Although this of course strengthens the AfD's role as a victim, greater damage has so far been seen in the potential for abuse of the office: an AfD state parliament president would have personnel sovereignty over the state parliament administration, can simply fire the parliamentary director and fill staff as he sees fit or send them into retirement. He could also sabotage processes, or pursue a secondary foreign policy with visits to Moscow, or invite new right-wing thinkers like Götz Kubitschek to the symposium.

Rausch, on the other hand, stated that he wanted to act in a non-partisan manner and that he did not share criticism of nepotism in his party, as he told the taz. You could be offended by it or criticize it, but it wasn't a scandal: "Vacancies were vacant and were filled." And so-called cross-employments of family members are now prohibited and this will also be adhered to in the next legislative period. On this point, one does not want to reverse the rules of procedure, said Rausch.

However, this does not apply to the Bundestag: now only his sister works in the Bundestag and he cannot prohibit her from working. The other siblings no longer exist. Only one of the footballers still works in his office - "But I've known him for a long time." His wife also still works for the AfD faction, but he only met her at work - so Rausch does not share the criticism of party leader Tino Chrupalla, who spoke of a "taste" with regard to the conditions in Saxony-Anhalt.

Despite everything, representatives of the BSW unanimously declare that they will elect a state parliament president from the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt. This is required by “usual parliamentary practice,” explains Federal Chairman Fabio De Masi, for example. The largest faction is entitled to the office. In a post on X he added: “As long as they don’t nominate an extremist.”

Does the BSW in Saxony-Anhalt consider Rausch to be an extremist? When asked by the taz, John Luca Dittrich, Parliamentary Secretary, explained that he saw no reason to “call Rausch an extremist.” The AfD man has many years of experience. “We experience him in parliamentary business as a competent politician who is familiar with the processes of the state parliament.”

The BSW takes Rausch's central role in the AfD's nepotism affair seriously, explains Dittrich. Nepotism should have no place in politics, he says. But at the same time, for such an important parliamentary office, the decision must be made on the basis of an overall picture.

Eva von Angern, the parliamentary group leader of the Left, sees it a little differently. Rausch has already shown what he's all about: “lining his own pocket.” Such behavior fundamentally precludes holding the office of “supreme representative of the legislature”. But that's not her first criticism of Rausch.

Electing a member of a right-wing extremist party as president of the state parliament is “extremely forgetful of history,” says von Angern. “The last president of a parliament who belonged to a right-wing extremist party was Herrmann Göring.” The Hitler loyalist was elected President of the Reichstag in 1932. For the Left, it doesn't matter who the AfD nominates as state parliament president in Saxony-Anhalt: "A member of a right-wing extremist party should never hold this office."

Incidentally, Rausch himself is not a moderate. "He always sat in the front row. When his group shouted at the speakers at the front of the podium, he never stopped them." Rausch applauded when, for example, Hans-Thomas Tillschneider “exposed his evil ideas to the outside world.”

Susan Sziborra-Seidlitz, leader of the Green Party in Saxony-Anhalt, explained when asked by the taz: A president of the AfD will foreseeably change the climate in the state parliament. For example, who he invites or visits as a representative of Parliament. The central tasks of the President of the State Parliament include leading the plenary session and maintaining respectful behavior in Parliament. She fears that these tasks could be “carried out arbitrarily or carelessly,” as the AfD parliamentary group has particularly often been noticed in recent legislative periods with “unparliamentary behavior and a lack of respect” for others.