Deadlock over Bundestag seating, as liberals refuse place next to AfD

[Gorgus]

[QUOTE]The German constitution dictates that a new parliament's first session has to take place no later than 30 days after the election. But the parties still can’t decide on who is sitting where.
The seating order in the 18th Bundestag (2013-2017) was simple. Die Linke, the successor party to the East German communists, went on the far left. The Social Democrats sat next to them, the Greens went in the middle, and Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Union went on the right. The seating thus reflected the parties’ positions on the political spectrum.

But things have been complicated for the 19th Bundestag by the arrival in parliament of the Free Democrats (FDP) and the far-right Alternative for Germany. While no one is disputing that the AfD will be seated on the very right of the plenum, conflict has arisen over where the FDP should go.

At a meeting held on Wednesday, representatives of all six parties met to thrash out the seating order. But no consensus could be met after the FDP rejected the plan to put them next to the AfD.

The pro-business party are determined to be placed in the centre of the Bundestag.[/QUOTE]

[url]https://www.thelocal.de/20171004/deadlock-over-bundestag-seating-as-liberals-refuse-place-next-to-afd[/url]

[DaCool]

[QUOTE=TheLocal]Both FDP and Christian Union have ruled out forming a coalition with the AfD. As the SPD have also ruled out joining the next government, a coalition deal between the Union, the FDP and the Green party is the only viable option.[/QUOTE]

Or new elections :suicide:

[Joey Skylynx]

Honestly, this might actually end in new elections... And the groups refusing to make a government are probably gonna catch flak.

[Tamschi]

I didn't really expect things to get ugly [I]this[/I] early. Nor that the FDP would formally kick things off.
I'm not sure there's really any other party in the Bundestag that might more or less get along with the afd though.

I expect them to hash something out before the deadline, though. The FDP is definitely aware it would hurt their results if they messed this up, considering an iirc fairly large majority would be alright with a Jamaica* coalition.

* These are named after their colours, in this case black (Union), yellow (FDP) and green (Die Grünen). Normally not after other countries, though.