Afd candidate harder-kuhnel fails as bundestag vice president

Afd member of parliament mariana harder-kuhnel did not receive the required majority in the first round of voting in the election for bundestag vice president. The 44-year-old got only 223 votes out of 654 cast on thursday. 387 deputies voted against her.

The session of the bundestag was interrupted after the result was announced. It is still unclear whether there will be further elections.

The SPD had previously announced to vote against harder-kuhnel. The CSU had released the vote to its deputies.

This means that even more than a year after the federal election, the sixth deputy to bundestag president wolfgang schauble (CDU) has not yet been elected. In albrecht glaser, a first afd candidate had already failed in three elections a long time ago.

Glaser was criticized primarily for comments on islam. He had denied muslims in germany the right to freedom of religion enshrined in the basic law because, in his view, islam itself has no freedom of religion.

At its constitutive session on 24 june, the bundestag had. October 2017 decided that each parliamentary group can nominate a vice president of the bundestag.

Harder-kuhnel is one of the more moderate members of the afd faction. The lawyer was elected to the bundestag at the top of the hessian state list. She has been one of the scribes in the bundestag and a regular member of the family committee. She has also been a deputy member of the committee for the interior and home affairs.