First state parliament session in Saxony-Anhalt: A president to enslave them

What happens at the inaugural session of the state parliament?

In the first meeting this Tuesday, the MPs in Magdeburg only have one task: they elect a presidium. That sounds simple, but in Saxony-Anhalt it brings with it a lot of potential for conflict. After the election a month ago, the AfD is the largest faction in parliament with 39 members and therefore claims that the state parliament president should come from their ranks. The Greens, SPD and Left are warning about the first right-wing extremist parliamentary speaker in the Federal Republic. The AfD parliamentary group unanimously elected Tobias Rausch as its candidate last week. He is also personally criticized. But the five BSW MPs have announced that they will support him. This is parliamentary practice, they argue. This would give Rausch the necessary majority.

First Eva von Angern gives a speech. The left-wing politician has been a member of the state parliament since 2002 and has the most experience with it. In Saxony-Anhalt, this makes her the “senior president” who opens the first parliamentary session, determines the quorum and initiates the elections for the state parliament president. He then takes over the chairing of the meeting. The Council of Elders will then meet this Tuesday and determine how the state parliament will elect its vice-presidents. There is currently disagreement about this. The AfD and BSW are likely to prevail with their majority.

Yes, the seating arrangement is new. Unlike the other German parliaments, it is not based on the political orientation of the parties. The AfD and the BSW sit in the middle, while the Greens move to the right edge. The AfD has already received support from the BSW for this idea. While the five representatives of the state parliament president refer to “parliamentary customs”, they probably don’t care about the seating arrangements.

On the one hand, he is at the center of the nepotism affair in the AfD. Among other things, he hired four footballers from his club. Rausch's three siblings worked for an AfD member of the Bundestag, his brother-in-law worked for another member of parliament and his wife is employed by the AfD for 6,000 euros a month. In an interview with the taz, Tobias Rausch said that he now only employs one footballer in the office - and only his sister works for the AfD in the Bundestag.

On the other hand, it's about Rausch's previous behavior in parliament. In the last five years there have been 37 calls to order in the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt. 32 of them went to the then 22 AfD MPs. Tobias Rausch received three calls to order. Other parliamentarians, such as Green Party leader Susan Sziborra-Seidlitz, doubt whether Rausch, as president of the state parliament, will protect the rights of all factions and keep his own party in check. He has also been a member of the AfD since the year it was founded and has so far supported the radicalization of his party.

What could Tobias Rausch change as President of the AfD state parliament?

In terms of protocol, the President of the State Parliament holds the highest office in Saxony-Anhalt. He represents the state parliament, can issue house rules and heads the administration. During state parliament sessions, it is his job to maintain the “dignity of the state parliament” and to ensure that parliamentary debates take place in an orderly manner. To do this, he can issue calls to order and, if in doubt, expel MPs from the room.

A rally has been registered in front of the state parliament, during which, among other things, the first 20 articles of the Basic Law will be read out.

That depends on what the council of elders agrees on. Until now, the party that provided the state parliament president was not allowed to appoint an additional vice president. The AfD wants to change that and on Monday unanimously elected Hans-Thomas Tillschneider as a candidate for the deputy post. He is considered a hardliner and key author of the ultra-radical AfD election program. Of the other parties, only the CDU and the SPD have so far sent candidates into the race: education politician Carsten Borchert (CDU) and the previous science minister Armin Willigmann (SPD). It was still unclear on Monday evening whether the two would get a majority. The AfD still wants to discuss this in its parliamentary group. The BSW parliamentary group said that it had looked at the candidates and would not vote for Tillschneider or Willingmann.

What happens if no state parliament president is elected?

According to state parliament regulations, the members of parliament are only allowed to disperse once they have elected a president and at least one vice-president. If Rausch fails, the other factions are also allowed to put forward candidates.

Sven Schulze, the acting Prime Minister of the CDU, is now also the parliamentary group leader of the CDU. Where is he during the first session?

At a press conference on Monday, Schulze announced that he would sit with his group. The government bench will remain empty, he explained.

And when will Ulrich Siegmund be elected Prime Minister?

He has since stated that he wants to run in December and be elected in the first round. However, it is unclear where the three votes necessary for this will come from. The BSW parliamentary group emphasizes again and again: Ulrich Siegmund will not get any votes from them, they want to abstain. If it doesn't work out in the first round, he doesn't want to run in the second, the AfD politician said before the state press conference this Monday. Then there is a lack of the necessary stability. However, Siegmund changes his claims from time to time. Before the election, for example, he had promised to only run as prime minister if his AfD got an absolute majority.