The seating in Germany’s Bundestag will have to be rearranged after MPs complained about sitting next to the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party.
The Free Democratic Party (FDP) — members of the new German coalition — had previously occupied the right-side edge of the Bundestag.
But after the AfD won seats in 2017, the FDP shifted towards the middle of the semi-circle arrangement.
Members of the FDP have stated that they no longer want to sit next to the far-right party, now they have entered government.
In October, senior FDP lawmaker Marco Buschmann said his party would like to “sit in the centre” as they represent the centre of politics.
The decision to reposition seats in Germany’s federal parliament was backed by lawmakers on Thursday.
The FDP will now swap positions with the centre-right Christian Democrat Union (CDU) who are now in opposition.
The CDU had opposed the change, arguing that the Free Democrats should respect the seven-decade-old seating order in the Bundestag.
