For its vice president, the AfD has nominated Albrecht Glaser, 75, who has called Islam a political ideology rather than a religion, and said Muslims should not have the right to freedom of religion as Islam did not respect that freedom.
The Social Democrats, Greens, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the radical Left Party have spoken out against Glaser’s nomination.
Senior members of Merkel’s conservative bloc have also said they will not support Glaser, though party lawmakers will be free to choose how they vote.
Later on Tuesday, the conservatives, FDP and Greens will convene for talks on forming a three-way coalition that is untested at national level.
Bundestag vice presidents chair sessions, set the agenda for parliamentary business and call lawmakers to order.
The convention that each party in parliament is entitled to one vice speaker is not written into the constitution, and parliamentary business can continue if the AfD is unable to get Glaser elected or find a replacement.
In the past, a party has had to nominate a second choice when its first choice was not elected. However, if the AfD failed to select any lawmaker who can win the role, it would be unprecedented.
Should Glaser fail to be elected a vice president in three rounds on Tuesday, voting will be postponed. A member of Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) for 40 years, Glaser quit the party in 2012 and helped to found the AfD in 2013.
The opposition to his nomination demonstrates the difficulties the AfD may face in pushing its agenda – ranging from immigration and an insistence that Islam does not belong in Germany to problems it sees in the euro zone.
