German parliamentary parties are fighting to sit as far away as possible from three neo-Nazi representatives who are part of the Federal Convention to elect the country's president next weekend, according to the weekly magazine Der Spiegel.
The convention, made up of 1,240 representatives from the state and national parliaments, as well as respected public figures, exists solely to elect the president.
The last time a president was chosen in 2010, the representatives from the National Democratic Party (NPD) sat behind the Green Party.
But this time the Greens are objecting to the seating arrangements, since one of their representatives is related to one of the victims of a recently solved neo-Nazi killing spree between 2000 and 2007.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats and their sister-party the Christian Social Union are also objecting to sitting near the neo-Nazis, saying one of their representatives is related to the victim of an anti-immigrant arson attack in 2003.
The parliament's Council of Elders is also discussing whether the presentation of presidential candidates before voting gets under way can be dropped, so as to avoid giving a platform to NPD candidate Olaf Rose, according to Spiegel.
The convention meets on March 18 to elect a successor to Christian Wulff, who resigned in February after corruption allegations.
Joachim Gauck, a former East German anti-communist civil rights activist and Lutheran pastor, is certain to win since he is supported by all the main political parties.
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