Upper house of German parliament elects new president

The upper house of the German parliament, or Bundesrat, elected Anke Rehlinger as its new president on Friday.

Rehlinger, of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD), is to replace Manuela Schwesig, the SPD premier of the eastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommen, on November 1.

A new Bundesrat president is selected from a different state every year, following a set order determined by the population of the German states.

Rehlinger is the premier of the western state of Saarland. The state's presidency of the Bundesrat has the motto "future through change."

"Cooperation between the federal government and the states is the backbone of our democracy," Rehlinger said after the vote.

According to the German constitution, the president of the Bundesrat stands in for the federal president during the latter's absences.

The outgoing Schwesig said that the current "harsh polarization" of political and social debate was not good for the country.

"We have to come closer together again," she said, calling for a clear stance against extremism, anti-Semitism, division and incitement.

"There can be no cooperation with forces that question or even want to abolish our free and democratic basic order," Schwesig said, urging citizens to keep the Bundesrat free from right-wing populism.

The far-right Alternative for Germany has received a surge of support in three recent state elections.