The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has for the first time won the presidency of a German state parliament. At the inaugural session of the newly elected legislature in Saxony-Anhalt, a state in eastern Germany, AfD member Tobias Rausch was elected president on Tuesday with 48 of 82 votes cast. Opposition parties and commentators described him as the first president from a far-right party since 1945. Some on the left drew a comparison with Hermann Göring, who presided over the Reichstag under the Nazis.

The AfD won last month's state election with almost 44 percent and holds 39 of the 83 seats. The state branch is classified as far-right extremist by Germany's domestic intelligence service. Rausch's tally exceeded the combined strength of the AfD and the small populist party BSW, which has five seats and is open to cooperating with the AfD. At least four further votes must therefore have come from other parties. The conservative CDU, which has 15 seats, had announced it would abstain, but only five abstentions were recorded. Observers suspect that some CDU members backed Rausch, though the CDU rejected claims that it had voted for another AfD candidate. Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, a hardliner described by the taz newspaper as a völkisch ideologue, was elected first vice-president with 44 votes, although the BSW said it would not support him and later denied doing so. The CDU's Carsten Borchert was elected another vice-president, while the Social Democrat candidate, Armin Willingmann, failed to win a majority. The presidium thus consists of two AfD members and one from the CDU.

The post is influential. Protocol-wise, the president ranks above the head of government. The office decides who may enter the parliament and can appoint and replace officials. Some fear the AfD could reshape the committees that prepare legislation so that it controls half the seats and can set the agenda or stall unwelcome bills. The party also changed the seating plan and now sits in the centre of the chamber.

Rausch, 35, a former estate agent, is regarded as moderate within the party and promised in his acceptance speech to place himself above party politics. Earlier this year he faced nepotism accusations because relatives and players from a football club he chairs worked for him. Critics such as the taz say his restrained tone should not mask the party's aims. AfD leader Ulrich Siegmund called it a historic day and said the so-called Brandmauer, the agreement among other parties not to cooperate with the AfD, had been broken. He says talks are under way to make him state premier in December. Officially, only the BSW has held talks so far, and it remains critical of the AfD. It proposes electing a non-partisan head of government, an idea the CDU rejects. The CDU says it will accept an AfD-led government and act as a constructive opposition.

The vote matters because it suggests the AfD may find the support it needs to govern, and it will show whether it rules in a radical or a moderate way. Hundreds of people protested outside the parliament. The party also leads in national polls and hopes to head the next federal government.