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Queue in front of a polling station in Berlin (on September 26, 2021)
Photo: Hauke Christian Dittrich / dpa
Federal Returning Officer Georg Thiel has spoken out in favor of repeating the Bundestag elections in six of Berlin's 12 constituencies.
Thiel requested this in the hearing of the Bundestag's Election Review Committee, as reported by the "Tagesspiegel", among others.
According to the "Berliner Zeitung", Thiel pointed out that in other large cities such as Hamburg, Munich or Cologne, there were no such serious problems and breakdowns as in Berlin.
A bomb from the Second World War was even discovered and defused in Cologne on election Sunday, which is why polling stations had to close for hours.
Even so, there weren't nearly as big a problem there either.
Elections, a referendum and then a marathon
"We are here in the German capital of a civilized country and yet it doesn't work," said Thiel accordingly.
He spoke of a "complete systematic failure of the election management".
Some of the polling stations were open until 9 p.m., people cast their votes “while the elephants were already watching on television,” the “Berliner Zeitung” quoted him as saying.
According to the newspaper, the “severity, number and non-detectability” of electoral errors convinced Thiel that no other solution was possible.
The Bundestag decides whether there will be a new election in the six constituencies.
The Election Review Committee prepares a decision and submits it to the Bundestag plenary for voting.
more on the subject
Seen this way: Berlin election party A column by Stefan Kuzmany
House of Representatives in Berlin: Objection to their own election by Henrik Bahlmann, Dietmar Hipp and Jean-Pierre Ziegler
There were numerous mishaps in Berlin during the elections last September.
Polling stations were temporarily closed due to missing or incorrect ballot papers, and long queues formed in some cases.
In Berlin on September 26, the citizens not only elected the Bundestag, but also the House of Representatives and district councils.
In addition, there was a vote on a referendum on the expropriation of large housing companies.
At the same time, the Berlin marathon took place with many road closures.
Federal Returning Officer Thiel had already lodged an objection in November, concentrating on the six constituencies in which he now wants to have the election repeated: These are constituencies 75 (Berlin-Mitte), 76 (Berlin-Pankow), 77 (Berlin-Reinickendorf). ), 79 (Berlin-Steglitz-Zehlendorf), 80 (Berlin-Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf) and 83 (Berlin-Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg – Prenzlauer Berg Ost).
There were sometimes very long waiting times, with the result that many voters were unable to exercise their right to vote, according to the statement from the Federal Returning Officer in November.
Due to the problems on election day, it cannot be ruled out "that without these events the seats in the German Bundestag would have been distributed differently".
In Reinickendorf in particular, errors could have distorted the results.
There Monika Grütters (CDU) was just ahead of Torsten Einstmann (SPD) and won the direct mandate.
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