The Constitutional Court of Berlin orders a repeat of the elections for the Parliament of the city-state

The city-state of Berlin will have to repeat the legislative elections for the election of its regional Parliament due to the irregularities and problems for the casting of the vote that arose on September 26, 2021. A few days after the Bundestag, the federal parliament, ordered the partial repetition in the German capital of the general elections held on the same date throughout Germany, the Constitutional Court of Berlin declared null the regional elections in the Prussian metropolis, which must be repeated in their entirety within three months. This means the end of the current government coalition of Social Democrats (SPD), Greens and The Left in the Berlin Senate under the orders of the mayor-governor, Franziska Giffey, formed after the elections held more than a year ago.

The Constitutional Chamber of Land Berlin recognized in its ruling that the annulment of these elections supposes the greatest possible intervention by the justice system in a democratic process, but stressed that it is necessary to guarantee that the composition of the Parliament of the city-state and the chambers of deputies from their different districts is carried out in response to the demands of democratic elections. The same court had already questioned during an oral hearing on September 28 the legality of the elections for the regional parliamentarians of the German capital due to the serious irregularities that occurred during their celebration. The registered problems would have had effects on the composition of the Land Chamber, the judges said then.

During the election day of September 26, 2021, in which Berliners voted for the Bundestag, its regional Parliament and the municipal chambers of its 12 districts, massive irregularities occurred. Among them the lack of ballots, their wrong distribution or the making of copies in an uncertified manner, as well as the shortage of ballot boxes, long lines to vote with many hours of waiting and the execution of the right to vote in some polling stations after the official closure. of the vote at 18:00 local time. The court’s decision now obliges to hold new regional and municipal elections in Berlin within a maximum period of 90 days. The most probable date will be February 12, according to calculations by the president of the electoral commission of the German capital, Stephan Böchler. His predecessor resigned a year ago after the electoral chaos registered in Berlin.

It is not yet clear when the partial repetition of the Bundestag elections in several of its districts will take place in the German capital. The federal Parliament agreed last week to call a part of the electorate back to the polls for the same irregularities registered during the regional elections. The German Lower House established that these elections must be repeated in 431 Berlin polling stations. However, it is assumed that this decision will soon be appealed before the German Constitutional Court by the conservative opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) and Bavarian Social Christians (CSU). In this case, and until the highest German judicial authority has ruled, these partial elections cannot be called.