Bundestag election 2021 in Berlin must be partly repeated

Verdict - Bundestag election 2021 in Berlin must be partly repeated

Due to numerous glitches, the 2021 Bundestag election in Berlin will have to be partially repeated. This was decided by the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe on Tuesday. The election must be repeated in 455 constituencies and the associated postal voting districts, said the presiding judge, Doris König. The repeat election must be carried out as a two-vote election, i.e. with first and second votes. An electoral review appeal by the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag was therefore only partially successful. (Ref. 2 BvC 4/23)

With its ruling, the highest German court also did not follow a decision of the Bundestag one-to-one. The Bundestag had decided, with the votes of the SPD, Green and FDP parliamentary groups, that the election should be partially repeated. This would have affected 327 of the capital's 2256 constituencies and 104 of the 1507 postal voting districts. In the view of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, however, the decision was unlawful, partly because the Bundestag had not declared the election invalid in six constituencies contested by the Federal Returning Officer. It therefore brought an action in Karlsruhe.

The Federal Constitutional Court has now declared the election invalid in a further 31 constituencies as mentioned in the Bundestag's decision. However, the decision was largely lawful.

Election day on September 26, 2021 was chaotic in many polling stations in Berlin: People had to wait a long time and queue, ballot papers were incorrect or missing altogether. Polling stations had to close temporarily or remained open until well after 6 p.m. - the time when voting should actually be over. This is when the first predictions of the result are usually made.

The Bundestag received 1713 objections to the Bundestag election in the state of Berlin, including one from the Federal Returning Officer. That is around eight times as many objections as in previous elections, Judge Peter Müller said at the hearing in July.

The fact that so much time has passed since the election was explained by Judge Müller with the two-stage review procedure: first it is a matter for the Bundestag and only later for the Constitutional Court. Due to the high number of appeals, Müller said that even the greatest possible acceleration would not have been possible at an earlier date.

Due to the mishaps on September 26, 2021, the Berlin Constitutional Court had declared the election to the House of Representatives invalid due to "serious systemic deficiencies" and numerous electoral errors. This election was completely repeated on February 12, 2023 - with the result that a black-red coalition replaced the three-party alliance of SPD, Greens and Left Party, which had governed since 2016.

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