"The foundation" - Court to determine fate of delayed elections
The political group, Die Basis, plans to dispute the contested decision to partially cancel and delay the city council election in Neubrandenburg on June 9th with the Administrative Court in Greifswald. They are in the process of creating a request for a preliminary injunction that they'll submit shortly, either today or by Monday, according to Sven Lingreen, the federal chairman of the party, who's working with their MV members to evaluate the legal circumstances. This is with the goal of getting temporary legal safety due to the urgency of the situation.
If the election is only postponed in one of Neubrandenburg's three electoral districts, the party claims, it's possible that a strategic decision will be made in electoral district 1 because the outcomes of the other two districts are already known. Lingreen had already reached out to the Interior Ministry in Schwerin, the supervisory authority, asking them to change their stance so that the city council election in all three districts is annulled and rescheduled.
On Monday, the city administration announced that the city council election in Neubrandenburg would be stopped in one electoral district (electoral district 1) due to flawed voting papers. Around 1,500 of the mailed ballots couldn't be validated. The election in electoral district 1 will be scheduled at least four weeks after the actual election date, said the city administration, with the exact date to be determined soon.
On the incorrect ballots for the Neubrandenburg city council vote, the FDP candidate was mentioned twice while the Die Basis candidate was no longer listed. "Imagine how upsetting this is for us, and I assure you that we'll improve and fine-tune our internal procedures," said Mayor Silvio Witt on Thursday.
The Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Interior Ministry and the state electoral officer have agreed with Neubrandenburg's strategy to delay the election, it was disclosed. The elections for the county council and the European Parliament, which take place concurrently on June 9th, will still happen in all Neubrandenburg electoral districts as planned.
Details on the election on June 9th https://www.mecklenburg-vorpommern.de/wahl2021/
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- The dispute over the partial cancellation and delay of the city council election in Neubrandenburg by the Interior Ministry of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is set to be heard at the Administrative Court in Greifswald, with Die Basis arguing for a preliminary injunction to postpone the decision until legal analyses are complete.
- In response to the decision to postpone the election in one electoral district due to flawed voting papers, Die Basis has approached the Ministry of the Interior in Schwerin, asking for the annulation of all three electoral districts' elections and a subsequent rescheduling.
- After the election postponement was announced, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Interior Ministry and state electoral officer agreed to the city's strategy, assuring that the concurrent county council and European Parliament elections on June 9th would proceed as planned in all Neubrandenburg electoral districts.
- Die Basis, a political group in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, has stated that if the election is only postponed in one electoral district, it could lead to a strategic decision-making advantage in electoral district 1, as the outcomes of the other two districts are already known.
