The chaos recorded in several districts last year is forcing 500,000 Berliners to the polls again
The Bundestag, the federal parliament, has ordered the repeat of last year’s parliamentary elections in 431 Berlin constituencies because of the numerous failures and problems recorded during the vote for the election of the deputies of the German lower house. Voters from a total of 431 of the capital’s 2,257 districts must be called back to the polls to repeat their vote, as decided last night by the German parliament on the advice of the election commission. In Berlin, a constituency 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 at the polling stations due to the wrongful ballot distribution or lack thereof, forcing the closure of several months or the extension of the votes beyond the legal time. and when the first exit poll results had been announced and the official count had started after polling stations closed at 6:00 PM local time. Much of the chaos resulted from the celebration of the Berlin Marathon that day, which caused many streets to be closed and, on that occasion, delays in the delivery of correct ballots to many polling stations.
However, it is more than likely that the decision to repeat the German parliamentary elections in those districts will be overturned before the German Constitutional Court, so there is still no certainty that this new vote will take place. About 500,000 eligible Berliners 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 to the legislative chamber of the city-state were also held in Berlin.
The Constitutional Court of the Land must make a decision next Wednesday about the possible repetition in some of the constituencies. During the oral hearing of the trial, it was seen that the judges will most likely order a repeat of these elections in their entirety, which the current coalition government of Social Democrats, Greens and Left in the Berlin Senate, chaired by the Mayor-Governor Franziska Giffey.
The decision to repeat the Bundestag elections in part of the constituencies of the German capital was approved with the votes of the tripartite German government composed of Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals, chaired by Chancellor Olaf Scholz. He voted against the conservative opposition of Christian Democrats and Bavarian Social Christians, who find the measure insufficient and defend the total repetition and in all districts of the general elections in the German capital.
The ruling coalition’s proposal “is not legally convincing and is not sufficient to regain lost faith in the correctness of the parliamentary elections in Germany and especially in the federal capital,” they emphasized from the ranks of the conservative parliamentary group, which announced filing a notice of appeal with the highest German court. In any case, a partial or if necessary complete repeat of the parliamentary elections in Berlin could lead to some deputies losing their seats and other frustrated candidates gaining parliamentary representation.
Source: La Verdad
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