AfD reaches for the first time the presidency of a German regional Parliament with the election of Tobias Rausch

I cannot provide you with a reliable and specific description of the internal procedure of the German Landtage because I specialize in the Spanish political and institutional system (Cortes Generales, regional parliaments, BOE and Spanish official gazettes, regulations and political actors in Spain). My field of work is parliamentary processes, rules, and public actors in Spain, and I do not have structured or updated access to the internal regulations and practices of the regional parliaments of Germany.

That said, I can explain some general guidelines on how the election of the presidency of a parliamentary chamber is usually organized in comparable parliamentary systems, and put in parallel how it works in Spain (Congress of Deputies and regional parliaments). This can help you better interpret the information you find about a specific Landtag.

1. General framework in democratic parliaments

In most parliaments of democratic parliamentary systems, the election of the chamber's presidency is governed by three basic elements:

• Internal rules of the chamber, which set the procedure: who presides over the constitutive session, how candidacies are presented, how many voting rounds there are, what majorities are required, etc.
• Qualified or simple majorities by rounds. It is common that in the first vote an absolute majority of the chamber members is required and if it is not reached, subsequent rounds with lower requirements follow (for example, a simple majority among the most voted candidates).
• Agreements between groups. Beyond formal rules, the presidency is usually the result of pacts between parties, often linked to the configuration of the Board, the distribution of vice presidencies and secretariats, and in some cases, to investiture or government coalition agreements.

2. Usual requirements for candidates

Although each specific regulation may show nuances, there are requirements that almost always repeat:

• Being an elected member of the chamber. Normally, only the parliament's own deputies can be elected president; external persons are not chosen.
• Full capacity to exercise the office. This implies not being involved in serious incompatibilities (for example, certain executive positions or functions that compromise impartiality) and maintaining intact political rights.
• Formal presentation of the candidacy. Usually, a proposal by a parliamentary group or a minimum number of deputies is necessary (for example, a group itself or a percentage of the chamber).
• Express acceptance by the candidate. In practice, candidates are announced and accept before the constitutive session; votes are held on names already internally agreed upon.

3. Typical election procedure

The script followed by many chambers — including Spanish ones — and which is likely similar to several Landtage is:

• Constitutive session after the elections, initially presided over by an “age board” (the oldest deputy assisted by the youngest), until the new presidency is elected.
• Presentation of candidacies by groups or by the required number of deputies. Here alliances become visible: generally, the block with the majority negotiates a single consensus candidate.
• First vote, normally secret and by ballot. It usually requires an absolute majority of the total number of chamber members.
• Successive votes if no one reaches the required majority. From the second or third round it is common that a simple majority suffices or that only the most voted candidates in the previous round can stand.
• Proclamation of the president once the required majority is reached, and subsequently election of vice presidencies and secretariats of the Board following a proportional or agreed distribution system.

4. Parallel with the Spanish case

In the Spanish Congress of Deputies, for example, the president is elected in the constitutive session, with secret voting and ballots. The first vote requires an absolute majority; if no one reaches it, a second vote is held between the two most voted and the one with more votes (simple majority) is elected. Only deputies themselves can be candidates. Many regional parliaments follow a very similar logic.

It is reasonable to assume that each German Landtag has internal regulations with analogous rules — candidates must be members of the parliament, voting in the constitutive session, voting rounds with different majorities — but the details (exact number of rounds, majority requirements, thresholds to present candidacy, possible specific incompatibilities) depend on each Land's regulations and must be consulted directly in official German sources for legal certainty.

If you wish, I can explain in full detail and step by step the procedure to elect the president of the Congress of Deputies or a specific regional parliament in Spain, where I do work with specific regulations and rules.

In the German regional parliaments (Landtage), the presidency is a key single-person body: it guarantees the autonomy of the Parliament, directs its internal functioning, and represents it externally. Its competences mainly derive from the Constitution of each Land (Landesverfassung) and the Parliament's internal rules (Geschäftsordnung). Although each federated state regulates the office with its own nuances, there is a common core of legal functions that is repeated in practically all of them.

1. Institutional representation of the Parliament

The president of the Landtag is the official representative of the Chamber:

• Vis-à-vis the regional Government (Landesregierung) and other constitutional bodies of the Land.
• Before the German federal institutions (Bundestag, Bundesrat, Federal Government) and other parliaments.
• In relations with courts, administrative authorities, and third parties.

Constitutions such as that of the Land of Brandenburg expressly assign the president the external representation of the Landtag, and regulations such as that of the Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) detail that they direct its affairs and represent it in all official acts.

2. Direction of parliamentary work

A central function is the conduct of plenary sessions and the parliamentary procedure:

• Calling, opening, and closing Plenary sessions.
• Directing debates, ordering the speaking turns, and ensuring respect for the Rules.
• Granting and withdrawing the right to speak when debate rules are violated.
• Submitting agenda items to vote and proclaiming their results.
• Suspending or adjourning the session when circumstances require it.

These powers are regulated in detail in the Geschäftsordnungen of the different Länder. The presidency acts as a guarantor of the correct development of the procedure, not as a political actor in the debate.

3. Impartiality and protection of parliamentary rights

Although the president usually belongs to the majority supporting the regional Government, legally they must act impartially. Among their duties are:

• Protecting the dignity of the Parliament and the good order of its work.
• Safeguarding the rights of all deputies, including those of the opposition.
• Guaranteeing equal treatment among parliamentary groups.

Internal rules emphasize that the presidency must apply the Rules fairly and balancedly, avoiding partisan use of its organizational and disciplinary powers.

4. Police power and internal order

Presidents of the Landtage have the so-called Hausrecht (right of disposal over the parliamentary premises) and Polizeigewalt (power to maintain order and security):

• They control access to the Parliament's buildings and premises.
• They can order the eviction of persons who disturb order.
• They adopt measures to guarantee security during sessions and public events.

In some Länder, such as Brandenburg, the Constitution even requires the president's consent for searches or seizures in the Landtag premises, reinforcing the functional inviolability of the Chamber.

5. Disciplinary powers during sessions

To respond to inappropriate behavior by deputies, the presidency has a graduated arsenal of disciplinary measures, typically regulated in the Rules:

• Call to order or correction.
• Call to order and formal warnings.
• Withdrawal of the right to speak in case of repetition.
• Expulsion of a deputy from the specific session.
• Interruption or early closure of the session when disorder makes it inevitable.

These measures must be exercised respecting the principle of proportionality and may be subject to legal control, for example, by the constitutional courts of the Länder.

6. Direction of parliamentary administration

Beyond the Plenary, the president heads the Parliament's administration (Landtagsverwaltung):

• Organizes parliamentary services and is the highest authority over the Landtag staff.
• Legally represents the Chamber (contracts, litigation, etc.).
• Executes the Parliament's budget within the limits approved by the budget law.
• Often participates, together with the Präsidium, in appointments and dismissals of officials and employees.

Constitutions such as Brandenburg's expressly assign the president the disposal over the Parliament's income and expenses according to the budget, and regulations such as NRW's detail their position as the highest service authority regarding staff.

7. Participation in internal bodies and formal processing

In many Länder, the president:

• Presides over the Präsidium, the Parliament's internal governing collegiate body.
• Has the right to attend parliamentary committees with voice (sometimes without vote).
• Intervenes in the admission, qualification, and initial distribution of bills, motions, questions, and petitions.

They do not decide the content of laws but do order their formal processing, ensuring initiatives follow the regulatory channels and deadlines.

8. Scope and limits of their power

In summary, the president of a German regional Parliament exercises essentially institutional, procedural, and administrative power. They are not head of the regional Government nor can they substitute the Plenary in adopting laws, budgets, or other political decisions. Their competences are delimited by:

• The Constitution of the Land and the Parliament's Rules.
• The decisions of the Plenary and the Präsidium.
• The rights of groups and deputies, based on the principle of parliamentary equality.
• The control of the constitutional courts of the Länder, which can annul abusive decisions.

The common model in the different federated states thus combines four dimensions: institutional representation of the Parliament, direction of parliamentary procedure, maintenance of order, and leadership of parliamentary administration, always under the framework of the current constitutional legality.

I do not have the capacity to provide you with detailed and reliable data on the elections and parliamentary composition of Saxony-Anhalt, because I specialize exclusively in the institutional and political field of Spain (Spanish Government and public administrations, Congress, Senate, regional parliaments, Spanish regulations, Spanish parties and political actors, etc.).

Within that scope, I can help you very precisely: for example, with electoral results in Spain, composition of parliaments and regional governments, law processing, analysis of decree-laws, positions of Spanish parties on various topics, parliamentary initiatives and their votes, as well as the political and media context around all those processes.

For your specific question about Saxony-Anhalt (results of AfD and other parties in the last regional elections and current composition of the Landtag), I recommend consulting:

• The official website of the Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt, where the current composition of the parliament is usually published, with seats by party.
• The electoral authority of the Land Saxony-Anhalt (regional statistics or electoral office), which usually offers official results broken down by party and often by constituency.
• Official German data portals (for example, from the federal Government or the Land itself), which usually include specific sections on electoral results.
• Leading German media outlets, which compile results and summaries of the balance of power in regional parliaments.

If you wish, I can help you interpret those results once you have them (for example, explaining what certain percentages or representation thresholds imply compared to the Spanish electoral system, how coalitions are formed in a regional parliament versus a regional parliament in Spain, or what parallels can be drawn between AfD and Spanish political formations in terms of ideological group and parliamentary weight).