German far right wins first top post as it seeks to lead state

Kamil Kowalcze, Bloomberg News on Oct 6, 2026

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Germany’s far-right party secured a majority for the top parliamentary post in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, giving it an initial foothold as it builds support to take power in a regional government.

Lawmakers for the Alternative for Germany on Tuesday convened in the first parliamentary session a month after the party won a stunning victory on a campaign to deport migrants, oppose military aid for Ukraine and transform the state’s education system.

The AfD’s Tobias Rausch won 48 votes, meaning the party’s 39 legislators won backing from nine outside the party. The BSW, a group formed two years ago by former Left party leader Sahra Wagenknecht, had pledged to back the far-right choice with its five delegates. The far right had also sought support from the ranks of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats, who said they would abstain.

The vote in the state assembly is a demonstration of the AfD’s growing clout as it capitalizes on frustration with Germany’s traditional parties and pushes to lead the first far-right state government in the country’s post-World War II history. The party’s candidate, Ulrich Siegmund, said he’ll seek a vote in December to become Saxony-Anhalt’s state premier even though the AfD is three seats short of an outright majority.

“Today, we will send a very clear message for Germany, for the new political future of this country,” Siegmund told Deutschlandfunk radio on Tuesday before the vote. “The tide has turned.”

The AfD, elements of which are classified as a right-wing threat to Germany’s democratic institutions, took 44% of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt on Sept. 6 as the CDU, which has governed the state since 2002, saw its support collapse. The party went on to score a victory in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania two weeks later, though has little prospect of governing in the Baltic coast state.

Rausch, 35, is the first AfD member to lead a state parliament. In a break with past practice, in which the parliamentary speaker held a non-partisan role, he’ll remain the state party’s general secretary. The Social Democrats, Greens and Left party lawmakers in the chamber had pledged to opposed his nomination.

Siegmund’s chances of being elected by parliament as state premier are uncertain. The BSW has ruled out a formal coalition with the AfD, but the two parties are discussing a policy package that could underpin looser cooperation. BSW founder Wagenknecht has mainly taken aim at the political establishment, denouncing the political “firewall” erected to isolate the far-right party from power.

“Every additional vote would also be a good sign for the formation of an AfD-led government in December,” Siegmund told Deutschlandfunk. “Consequently, today marks an important first step toward what is yet to come.”

Siegmund said the missing votes needed to elect him state premier would come from “members of other parliamentary groups,” adding that the talks were going “very well,” making a majority in the first round of voting foreseeable.