First setback for Germany's far-right AfD as new parliament convenes

BERLIN — The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which almost doubled its number of MPs in elections a month ago, suffered its first setback on Tuesday when it failed to win any top positions in the new parliament.

The AfD's candidate to become one of the parliamentary vice-presidents, Gerold Otten, deplored his defeat in three rounds of voting as a "low point in parliamentary history".

Lawmakers chose Julia Kloeckner of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) as the new president or speaker, while her party chief Friedrich Merz pushes on with efforts to form a coalition government.

Kloeckner said she intended to ensure "decency" and "civilised coexistence" in the chamber, stressing that the tone set in the Bundestag also impacts societal discourse.

The anti-immigration AfD, which came second with a record of over 20 per cent of the vote last month, had been expected to lay claim to several senior positions in the chamber.

However, the other parties have pledged to maintain a "firewall" against allowing political extremists into any positions of power.

Several chapters of the AfD are under surveillance by intelligence services and have been classified as right-wing extremists.

A lawmaker from the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), Lars Castellucci, argued that while "the parliamentary participation of the AfD must be guaranteed", precautions must be taken with regard to parties "when there are doubts about their compliance with the constitution".

Bernd Baumann, the head of the AfD's parliamentary group, said that "if our political opponents continue to try to deprive us of our rights and our posts, they will be ignoring the will of more than 10 million voters who have made us the largest opposition group".

Baumann also deplored as "pathetic" that the inaugural session was opened by the longest-serving MP, Gregor Gysi of the far-left Die Linke party, and not by the oldest lawmaker, the AfD's Alexander Gauland, 84.

As the new main opposition in the Bundestag, with almost a quarter of the seats, the AfD will receive a greater share of state financing for parties, be allocated more staff and get more speaking time.

The AfD is also demanding a place on a parliamentary body responsible for overseeing Germany's intelligence services.

Merz, whose CDU/CSU bloc won the February elections, hopes to forge a government by late April with the SPD of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Tuesday formally dismissed the outgoing cabinet but also tasked Scholz with staying on in a caretaker role until a new government is formed.