First centre-right Merkel party crashes

German parliamentarians gathered together in Berlin on Tuesday for the start of the new Bundestag's first session, with a first clash between the main parties and the far-right alternative for Germany ( AfD) concerning its appointment for parliament's deputy speaker, reports “Deutsche Welle”, Periscopi broadcast.

Among other things, the first session, dubbed “sequential”, will cast ballots for the president and deputy parliament speaker. The AfD, which won seats in the national parliament for the first time in the September 24th elections, has nominated Albrecht Glaser, 75, as one of the six vice presidents to be elected one by each party group.

Glaser has brought controversy with his comments on Islam, which he has called political ideology rather than a religion. He also said Muslims had lost their right to freedom of religion, as Islam did not respect that freedom.

The Social Democrats of the centre-left (SPD), the Green, the Free Business Democrats (FDP) and the leftist party have all spoken against Glaser's nomination.

PSD parliamentary party leader Andrea Nahles told the ZDF broadcaster that Glaser would not support the values of German democracy.

The deputy speakers of the Bundestag leaders' sessions set the agenda and called on lawmakers to order them where they should.

The opposition to Glaser's nomination is a first taste of confrontations that could occur if the AfD tries to postpone the anti-imigration, anti-Islamic and anti-euro agenda in parliament.

If Glaser fails to be elected in three rounds Tuesday, the vote will be postponed.

In a speech to open the session, FDP “politician Hermann Otto Solms, 76-year-old,” lead according to the oldest age”, appears to refer to the populist AfDès in his warnings against “execution or even stigmatization” of people. All parliamentarians had the same rights, he said, but also the same obligations.

The vote for outgoing Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), to replace Norbert Lammert as president or chairman of Bundestag, will likely be much less controversial, as Schäuble enjoys broad interparty support.

Bundestag's president is usually a member of Angela Merkel's party's largest parliamentary group. Traditionally, elections are inconsistent.

The previous government will lead the country into a monitoring capacity until a decision on the possible coalition is reached, which may not happen this year.

If negotiations are not successful, Merkel will have the choice to form a minority government, convincing an earlier SPD that does not want to enter the coalition with conservatives or call new elections, none of which are viewed by analysts as a real opportunity to implement.

Merkel has ruled out forming any alliance with the left party or the AfD '%a.

The new parliament is the world's largest democratic house for a single country, with 709 members compared to 631 in the previous legislative assembly. It also brings together six parliamentary parties -- in this case starting from left to extreme right -- for the first time since 1957./Periscopi/