German lawmakers reject far-right deputy speaker candidate

BERLIN – German lawmakers have rejected the far-right Alternative for Germany party's proposed candidate for deputy speaker of parliament for the third time.

It is customary for each party in the Bundestag to have a deputy alongside speaker Wolfgang Schaeuble, a veteran conservative lawmaker.

Alternative for Germany's candidate, Mariana Harder-Kuehnel, received 199 votes in favor and 423 votes against Thursday. She received more than twice the number of votes as the number of lawmakers her party has in parliament.

Harder-Kuehnel has a relatively moderate reputation within the party. Her colleague Albrecht Glaser, who was first nominated by Alternative for Germany in 2017, was rejected after suggesting that freedom of religion shouldn't apply to Islam.