Due to numerous malfunctions, the 2021 federal elections in Berlin will have to be partially repeated. The Federal Constitutional Court decided this on Tuesday in Karlsruhe. The election must be repeated in 455 electoral districts and associated electoral districts, said presiding judge Doris König. The repeat election must be held as a two-vote election, that is, with first and second votes. An election audit complaint filed by the Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag was only partially successful. (Ref. 2 BvC 4/23)
With its decision, the highest German court did not exactly follow the Bundestag's decision. This had the votes of the traffic light factions SPD, Greens It is PSD decided that the election should be partially repeated. This would have affected 327 of the capital's 2,256 electoral districts and 104 of the 1,507 postal electoral districts. From the point of view of CDU/CSU parliamentary group However, the decision was illegal, among other things because the Bundestag did not declare the election invalid as a whole in six constituencies contested by the Federal Returning Officer. Therefore, she took legal action in Karlsruhe.
➤ See more information: Kai Wegner was elected mayor of Berlin on the third attempt
The Federal Constitutional Court has now declared the election invalid in a further 31 electoral districts in addition to those mentioned in the Bundestag decision. However, the decision is ultimately legal.
Election day was chaotic
Election day on September 26, 2021 was chaotic in many Berlin polling stations: people had to wait a long time and queue, ballot papers were incorrect or completely missing. Polling stations had to close temporarily or remain open until well after 6pm – the time when voting should have ended. Then there are usually initial predictions about the outcome.
In 1713, objections were raised to the Bundestag against federal elections in the state of Berlin, including one from the Federal Returning Officer. This represented around eight times more objections than in previous elections, judge Peter Müller said at the hearing in July.
➤ Berlin goes black: who is the new CDU mayor?
Judge Müller explained that a lot of time has passed since the election with the review process in two stages: first it is a matter for the Bundestag, only then for the Constitutional Court. Due to the high number of objections, no earlier date was possible, even with the greatest possible acceleration, Müller said.
Due to the mishaps of September 26, 2021, the Berlin Constitutional Court declared the election for the House of Representatives invalid due to “serious systemic deficiencies” and numerous voting errors. This election was completely repeated on February 12, 2023 – with the result that a black-red coalition replaced the tripartite alliance of the SPD, the Greens and the Left that had governed since 2016.