On February 11, 2024, many people in Berlin will have to go to the ballot box again. The parties begin the repeat election campaign.
Berlin – Almost six weeks before the repeat of the 2021 federal election in parts of Berlin, the parties are officially starting the election campaign. Since Tuesday (January 2, 2024), posters for the candidates have been allowed to advertise in the affected districts again. Election notifications will also be sent out starting Tuesday.
Bundestag election campaign again: Berlin parties start
The postal voting documents are to be sent out on January 8th. This was confirmed by state returning officer Stephan Bröchler rbb24. The date has already been set: the repeat election in 455 of Berlin's 2,256 electoral districts is scheduled for February 11th. Around 550,000 people in Berlin are allowed to vote.
The reason for the repeat election is numerous breakdowns in Berlin on election day September 26, 2021, when the state parliament was also elected at the same time. Ballot papers were incorrect or missing entirely. The election was sometimes interrupted for more than 100 minutes. In some cases the queues were so long that some people were only able to vote after 6 p.m., when forecasts were already showing on television. That is why the House of Representatives election was completely repeated in February 2023.
Berlin is voting again – the Federal Constitutional Court orders a repeat
On December 19, 2023, the Federal Constitutional Court confirmed that the errors in the federal election were also “relevant to the mandate,” meaning that other people might have been elected under regular conditions. In their ruling, the Karlsruhe judges set the scope of the repetition to around a fifth of the electoral districts.
Berlin's governing mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) was optimistic about the outcome of the partial re-election. He said after the Federal Constitutional Court’s decision that he had “full confidence” in State Returning Officer Bröchler “that the elections will run smoothly.” The Senate has “worked with him to create all the necessary conditions so that elections in Berlin can function again.”
Redial elections could have an impact: “Cross-national shifts”
At the Overall, the distribution of votes in the Bundestag is unlikely to change much, but there could be surprising effects. The parliament currently has 736 seats, 29 of which come from all over Berlin. According to simulation calculations, two to three mandates could be redistributed between the parties in Berlin.
However, after the partial repetition, the result of the 2021 federal election will be determined again as a whole. “There may therefore be cross-state shifts in the distribution of seats,” says information from Federal Returning Officer Ruth Brand. This could also result in new mandate gains and losses in other federal states. (bohy/dpa)
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