The 2021 federal election was chaotic in Berlin. Now the Federal Constitutional Court has made a judgment – which differs from a decision by the Bundestag.
Due to numerous breakdowns, the 2021 federal election in Berlin will have to be partially repeated. The Federal Constitutional Court decided this on Tuesday in Karlsruhe. The election must be held again in 455 electoral districts and the associated postal voting districts, said the presiding judge, Doris König. The repeat election should be carried out as a two-vote election, i.e. with first and second votes. An election audit complaint by the Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag was only partially successful.
With its ruling, the highest German court did not follow a decision of the Bundestag exactly. With the votes of the traffic light factions SPD, Greens and FDP, he 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 voting districts. From the perspective of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, the decision was illegal, among other things because the Bundestag did not declare the election invalid as a whole in six constituencies that were contested by the Federal Returning Officer. Therefore she filed a lawsuit in Karlsruhe.
The Federal Constitutional Court has now declared the election invalid in a further 31 electoral districts than those mentioned in the Bundestag decision. However, the decision is ultimately lawful.
Chaotic election day
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 missing entirely. Polling stations had to temporarily close or remained open until well after 6 p.m. – the time when voting was supposed to be over. Then there are usually initial predictions about the result.
1,713 objections were raised to the Bundestag against the federal 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, Judge Peter Müller said at the hearing in July.
Two-stage testing procedure
Judge Müller explained that so much time has passed since the election with the two-stage review process: first it is a matter for the Bundestag, only later for the Constitutional Court. Because of the high number of objections, no earlier date was possible, even with the greatest possible acceleration, said Müller.
Because of 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 voting errors. This election was completely repeated on February 12, 2023 – with the result that a black-red coalition replaced the three-way alliance of the SPD, the Greens and the Left that had governed since 2016.
