Judgment from Karlsruhe - Bundestag election in Berlin will be partially repeated on February 11
Due to numerous glitches, the 2021 Bundestag election in Berlin will have to be repeated in a good fifth of the 2256 constituencies. The Federal Constitutional Court ruled in Karlsruhe on Tuesday that 455 constituencies, including the associated postal voting districts, were affected. The highest German court had examined the chaotic procedures on September 26, 2021 for electoral errors relevant to the mandate - i.e. those that could have an influence on the distribution of seats in parliament. (Ref. 2 BvC 4/23)
The Second Senate came to the conclusion that the Bundestag had inadequately clarified the election process. It had not analyzed the transcripts of individual constituencies. The court had made up for this, explained the presiding judge, Doris König. Accordingly, the election was declared invalid in a further 31 constituencies in Berlin when the Bundestag decided on 2022.
The election will now be repeated on February 11. The date for the partial rerun was announced by state electoral officer Stephan Bröchler shortly after the ruling in Karlsruhe.
Long list of mishaps on election day in Berlin 2021
Election day on September 26, 2021 was chaotic at 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 was around eight times as many objections as in previous elections, said Judge Peter Müller at the hearing in July.
The Bundestag had decided on a partial repeat election with the votes of the SPD, Green and FDP parliamentary groups. In the view of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, however, the decision was unlawful, among other things because the Bundestag had not declared the election invalid in six constituencies contested by the Federal Returning Officer. It therefore filed an electoral review complaint in Karlsruhe.
Court examined possible electoral errors
The Federal Constitutional Court has now ruled that the decision was largely lawful. However, it criticized electoral errors that had not been considered in detail. However, the extension of the election rerun demanded by the CDU/CSU parliamentary group went too far, as it was not possible to clarify whether electoral errors had occurred in all cases.
The court considered electoral errors to include the fact that eligible voters were given ballot papers from another constituency and the temporary complete closure of a polling station. The Senate took a more differentiated view of excessive waiting times and voting after 6 p.m., which were not always electoral errors.
In addition, according to Judge König, it only became known after the hearing that postal votes from constituencies in which the election had been declared invalid had been redistributed - so that they were not included in the result of the postal voting constituencies covered by the Bundestag resolution, but in the result of other postal voting constituencies that had not been declared invalid. This was contrary to electoral law.
The Left Party expressed relief. "The ruling makes it clear that we will remain in the Bundestag and continue to perform our role as the social opposition," former parliamentary group leader Dietmar Bartsch told the German Press Agency. The partial rerun could not change the outcome in the two constituencies in which the Left had won direct mandates, said Bartsch. The party was only able to enter the Bundestag thanks to three direct mandates because it had remained below the five percent threshold overall.
Differences to the parliamentary elections
Due to the mishaps on September 26, 2021, the Berlin Constitutional Court 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 that had governed since 2016.
König explained that the Federal Constitutional Court did not order a complete rerun for the Bundestag elections due to the different legal bases for the constitution of different parliaments. She explained that electoral errors had occurred in the state elections, such as the use of copied ballot papers, which had not been detectable in the Bundestag election.
Berlin's Governing Mayor Kai Wegner sees the second election rerun in his city within a short space of time as a "major effort". The CDU politician said after the verdict that he had full confidence in the state returning officer Bröchler that the partial repeat of the Bundestag election would run smoothly.
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The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe deemed the decision for a partial rerun of the Bundestag election in Berlin necessary due to the inadequate clarification of election procedures by the Bundestag. The CDU/CSU parliamentary group filed an electoral review complaint, citing concerns about the legality of the decision to repeat the election only in certain constituencies.
Despite the criticisms, the court ultimately ruled that the majority of the decision was lawful, but it also identified multiple electoral errors that had not been thoroughly considered. One such error involved postal votes being redistributed, which went against electoral law.
Following the court's ruling, the state electoral officer announced that the partial rerun of the Bundestag election in Berlin would take place on February 11. This decision was welcomed by the Left Party, which had won direct mandates in the initial election and would remain in the Bundestag despite the rerun.
Source: www.stern.de
