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Politics — News — Bundestag — Berlin — Germany — repetition — Elections — Federal election — Election campaign — Parties

Another Bundestag election campaign: Berlin parties kick off

A lot went wrong in Berlin when the Bundestag was re-elected a good two years ago. On February 11, half a million people in the capital will therefore have to - or be allowed to - go to the polling station again.

,   and  Melissa Williams
1 min read
The SPD member of parliament for Pankow, Klaus Mindrup (right), and Wolfgang Thierse putting up the....aussiedlerbote.de
The SPD member of parliament for Pankow, Klaus Mindrup (right), and Wolfgang Thierse putting up the first election posters in their neighborhood in Oderberger Strasse. Photo.aussiedlerbote.de

Elections - Another Bundestag election campaign: Berlin parties kick off

Just under six weeks before the 2021 Bundestag elections are repeated in parts of Berlin, the parties are officially starting the election campaign. Since Tuesday, posters for candidates have been allowed to advertise in the affected districts again. The election rerun in 455 of Berlin's 2256 constituencies is planned for February 11. Around 550,000 Berliners will be able to vote.

This is due to numerous mishaps in Berlin on election day on September 26, 2021, when the state parliament was also elected at the same time. Ballot papers were incorrect or missing altogether. The election was interrupted for more than 100 minutes in some cases. In some cases, queues were so long that some people were only able to vote after 6 p.m., when forecasts were already being shown on television. This is why the parliamentary elections in February 2023 had already been completely repeated.

On 19 December, the Federal Constitutional Court confirmed that the errors were also "relevant to the mandate" in the Bundestag election, meaning that other people might have been elected under normal conditions. In their ruling, the judges in Karlsruhe set the scope of the rerun at around one fifth of the constituencies.

Overall, the distribution of votes in the Bundestag is unlikely to change much, although there could be some surprising effects. The parliament currently has 736 seats, 29 of which come from all over Berlin. According to simulation calculations, two to three seats could be redistributed between the parties in Berlin. However, after the partial rerun, the overall result of the 2021 Bundestag election will be recalculated. "There may therefore be shifts in the distribution of seats across federal states," according to information from the Federal Returning Officer Ruth Brand. "This means that new seats may also be gained or lost in other federal states."

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Source: www.stern.de

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