The chaos recorded last year in several districts forces 500,000 Berliners to go to the polls again
The Bundestag, the federal parliament, has ordered the repetition of last year’s legislative elections in 431 electoral districts of Berlin due to the numerous failures and problems registered during the voting for the election of the deputies of the German lower house. The voters of a total of 431 of the 2,257 districts of the country’s capital must be called back to the polls to repeat their vote, as decided by the German parliament last night following the advice of the Electoral Verification Commission. In Berlin an electoral district is equivalent to a polling station.
In the general elections of September 26, 2021, there were long queues in those districts with unusual waiting times before the polling stations due to the distribution of wrong ballots or the lack of them, which forced the closure of several months or the extension of the vote beyond the legal time and when the first results of the exit polls had been announced and the official count had begun after the closing of the polling stations at 6:00 p.m. local time. Much of the chaos stemmed from the celebration of the Berlin marathon on that day, forcing numerous streets to be closed and on that occasion leading to a delay in the supply of correct ballots to many polling stations.
However, it is more than likely that the decision to repeat the German legislative elections in those districts will be denounced before the German Constitutional Court, so there is still no certainty that this new vote will take place. Some 500,000 Berliners eligible to vote would be called back to the polls if the court approves the German parliament’s decision. Parallel to the elections to the Bundestag, the elections for the legislative chamber of the city-state were also held in Berlin.
On its possible repetition also in a part of the electoral districts the Constitutional Court of the Land must decide next Wednesday. During the oral hearing of the process it could be seen that the judges will most likely order a repeat of these elections in their entirety, which questions the current coalition government of Social Democrats, Greens and The Left in the Berlin Senate, which is chaired by the mayor- Governor Franziska Giffey.
“It is not legally convincing”
The decision to repeat the Bundestag elections in a part of the electoral districts of the German capital was approved with the votes of the tripartite German government, made up of Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals, chaired by Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz. He voted against the conservative opposition of Christian Democrats and Bavarian Social Christians, who consider the measure insufficient and defend the total repetition and in all the districts of the general elections in the German capital.
The proposal of the government coalition “is not legally convincing and is not adequate to recover the confidence lost in the correctness of the parliamentary elections in Germany and especially in the federal capital,” they stressed from the ranks of the conservative parliamentary group, which announced the presentation of an appeal to the highest German court. In any case, a partial or, if necessary, total repetition of the legislative elections in Berlin could cause some deputies to lose their seats and other frustrated candidates to gain parliamentary representation.
#Bundestag #orders #repetition #general #elections #Berlin