German party AfD submits new bid for Bundestag vice-president,
In a renewed attempt to secure a vice-president position in the German Bundestag, the AfD faction has put forward a new candidate, Michael Kaufmann, a 61-year-old professor of engineering, for the role of deputy to the Bundestag president. Kaufmann, a directly elected representative of the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt – Saale-Holzland-Kreis – Saale-Orla-Kreis constituency, has been a member of the Bundestag since October 2021.
As a member of the Bundestag, Kaufmann is a regular member of the research, technology, space and technology assessment committee and a substitute member of the digital and state modernization committee, as well as the budget committee. Prior to his Bundestag tenure, Kaufmann was a member of the Thuringian state parliament from 2019 to 2021, where he also served as vice-president from March 2020 to November 2021.
According to parliamentary conventions, the AfD, like all other factions, is theoretically entitled to a vice-president position. However, the chosen candidates must be elected by a majority of Bundestag members, a feat that has consistently eluded the party in recent years, including in the case of Kaufmann’s previous bid.