German chancellor 'appalled' as AfD wins first state parliament speaker post

Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Wednesday expressed deep alarm over the Alternative for Germany's (AfD) election as speaker of the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament, calling the development a dangerous breach of Germany's democratic firewall. Speaking at a business forum hosted by the Handelsblatt Media Group in Berlin, Merz said he was "deeply concerned and somewhat appalled by what happened yesterday." He stressed that democratic forces must continue refusing any cooperation with the anti-immigrant party, which Germany's domestic intelligence agency has classified as a confirmed right-wing extremist group in the eastern state.

Secret ballot fuels speculation

Lawmakers in Magdeburg elected Tobias Rausch of the AfD as speaker on Tuesday in a secret first-round ballot where he secured 48 of 82 votes — nine more than the 39 seats held by his own party. German media and rival parties have speculated that some lawmakers from Merz's conservative CDU cast those votes, reading the result as a crack in the long-standing policy of no coalitions, no joint votes and no cooperation meant to isolate the party. "It was a secret ballot. We do not know exactly who cast votes for the AfD candidate," Merz said. "But anyone who casts their vote for the AfD is playing the extremists' game. And they are destroying credibility. It is certainly incompatible with the values of my party, the CDU."

Chancellor cites 'false-flag' possibility

Merz cautioned against hasty conclusions, suggesting that lawmakers outside the CDU could have backed the AfD candidate to sow division and undermine democratic cohesion. "False-flag operations don't just happen in the military; they happen in politics, too," he said. "And that is why we need to be careful about drawing hasty conclusions. Here, we are dealing with at least two -- or in the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament, three -- factions that are doing everything they can to undermine democratic cohesion."

Warning ahead of federal polls

The chancellor noted that September's regional election in Saxony-Anhalt had produced a bitter outcome, with the AfD winning 43.8% of the vote and the left-wing populist BSW securing 5.3%. "Yet the election result is the election result," Merz stated, adding that accepting unwelcome outcomes is part of democracy. "The question then turns back to us: what do we do so that something like this is not repeated?" he asked. "Above all, so that it does not happen across the whole of Germany at the next federal election."