Berlin  - Legislators in Saxony elected Stanislaw Tillich, 49, on Wednesday as premier of their German state, succeeding Georg Milbradt, 63, who said he was stepping down for the sake of an orderly handover.

Both men belong to Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Tillich is a leader of the Sorb people, a proud Slavic-language minority that has lived since time immemorial in the state's Lusatia region. The unique language and customs of the Sorbs are legally protected. Germany also has an official Danish-speaking minority.

As state finance minister, Tillich, who is a Catholic, has built up his popularity. He was selected Saturday by the CDU for the state leadership with no opponent.

He was appointed premier on Wednesday by the state assembly in Dresden on the first ballot with 66 out of the 121 available votes.

But legislators were shocked that a far-right figure, Johannes Mueller, nominated by the extremist National Democratic Party NPD, won 11 votes although that party has just eight seats in the assembly. The NPD has seats in two German state legislatures.

It was assumed that closet right-wingers in other parties had broken ranks in the secret ballot.

In a region where the collapse of German communism wiped out most industry, Saxony has prospered best during two harsh decades, rebuilding its economy around its car and semiconductor industries.

But the state government's finances were weakened when a state-owned bank, the Saxon Landesbank, invested in US securities that became nearly worthless in the subprime financial crisis.

Milbradt said carping about this by the other party in his government, the Social Democrats, hastened his move to go.

Eleven of Germany's 16 state premiers belong to the CDU or its CSU Bavarian sister party. (dpa)