A month after Germany's far-right AfD scored a decisive victory in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, the party's candidate Tobias Rausch has been elected as parliament speaker there too.
Not since World War Two has a far-right party secured the post of speaker, and protesters outside the building in Magdeburg held up banners saying, "Never again is now".
Although the AfD fell three seats short of a majority in last month's election, Rausch, 35, comfortably won Tuesday's vote with the support of 9 MPs from other parties.
"The days of political firewalls should be a thing of the past," Rausch said after the vote, rejecting a post-war consensus in German politics not to work with the far right.
This was the first time since last month's state vote that Saxony-Anhalt's newly elected representatives had gathered in parliament, and regional Greens party leader Susan Sziborra-Seidlitz said "a line has been crossed" with the election of a far-right speaker of parliament, and it was a watershed moment.
"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," she said.
The AfD is considered pro-Russian and anti-immigrant, with plans to segregate child refugees in schools, as well as intolerant towards the LGBT community.
Within Saxony-Anhalt it is also classed as "right-wing extremist" by domestic intelligence, a description rejected by party leaders. Until now its members have sat on the right fringe of the state parliament, but ahead of Tuesday's inaugural session it successfully argued that it should now sit in the centre.
ReutersRausch, a trained estate agent, has been a member of the parliament for 10 years and he is seen as a close confidant of local AfD leader Ulrich Siegmund, a charismatic figure who is now seeking to become state premier in December.
His new role is largely symbolic, but Rausch will now chair debates, have the power to control access to the parliament building and represent parliament at official events.
Although his victory was secured by five MPs from the hard-left BSW, there was surprise that four other unidentified MPs also voted for Rausch. Commentators immediately asked if he had secured the backing of members of the conservative CDU of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has ruled out working with the AfD.
Fourteen of the CDU's state MPs took part in the vote, but only five of them abstained as planned, and one unconfirmed report suggested four may have backed Rausch. Ahead of the vote, all 15 had ruled out voting for the AfD.
Outside parliament, more than 300 protesters voiced their anger at the AfD's victory, and they crowded around Ulrich Siegmund as he spoke to German media.
Siegmund's bid to become state premier is by no means secure. Like Rauch he will need the backing of 42 MPs in the 83-seat legislature.
The BSW has refused to enter into a coalition with the AfD and has said it would instead back a non-partisan candidate for state premier and abstain in December's vote.
SOURCE/AUTHOR : BBC NEWS/
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