How did the far-right AfD win its first parliament presidency in Germany?

In Magdeburg, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt as lawmakers convened for their tense opening session.

In a decisive secret ballot for parliament president, AfD politician Tobias Rausch secured 48 votes, while 29 lawmakers voted against him and 5 abstained.

With the tally revealing crucial cross-party backing from rival benches, Rausch called for unity in his inaugural address, declaring that The times of political firewalls should belong to the past.

Green Party leader Susan Sziborra-Seidlitz condemned the outcome and warned that Whoever entrusts this office to a representative of a right-wing extremist and unconstitutional party bears responsibility for what happens next.