Berlin: Audit Committee recommends new elections in Berlin constituencies

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Ballot papers in the polling station: chaos reigned in Berlin

Photo: Sebastian Gollnow / picture alliance / dpa

After the chaos in the Bundestag elections in Berlin, the election is to be repeated in around 400 electoral districts.

According to SPIEGEL information, the SPD, Greens and FDP initiated the development of a corresponding recommendation for a resolution in the election examination committee.

"The traffic light factions have agreed today to initiate a resolution recommendation according to which the Bundestag elections are to be held in around 400 electoral districts in the twelve Berlin constituencies," said the chairman of the election examination committee and parliamentary director Johannes Fechner (SPD). SPIEGEL: "The reason for this is serious electoral errors: Some polling stations were closed for hours, there were no ballot papers, wrong ballot papers were distributed, there were unreasonably long waiting times and the end of the election was delayed by up to two hours." Individuals who were not entitled to vote also voted.

Voting errors should be corrected

The right to vote is the central opportunity for citizens to participate, said Fechner: “Therefore, electoral errors of this magnitude must be corrected by new elections so that all citizens have the same opportunity to exercise their right to vote and so that their votes get the weight they are entitled to .«

The representatives of the traffic light coalition in the Election Review Committee have now asked the Bundestag administration to draw up a recommended resolution for the German Bundestag that provides for new elections in around 400 of the 2,300 electoral districts.

The focus of these constituencies lies in the constituencies of Berlin-Reinickendorf, Berlin-Mitte, Berlin-Pankow, Berlin Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Berlin Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf and Berlin Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg.

This should be decided in October in the Bundestag.

"Because the recommended resolution must be prepared intensively in order to be legally secure," says Fechner.

Then they also want to take into account information from the Berlin Constitutional Court, which will meet in September.

Chaos in Berlin

On September 26, 2021, there were long queues in front of several polling stations in Berlin, and some citizens were still voting after the first projections were published.

Four votes were taken on election day.

The main reason for the delays was the lack of ballot papers, and it was difficult for supplies to reach the bars because of the major Berlin Marathon event.

Now it is also possible to repeat the elections to the House of Representatives, which the Berlin Constitutional Court is hearing at the end of September.

So that the chaos does not repeat itself, the capital should get its own state electoral office.

The commission, which analyzed the problems of the election day on behalf of the Berlin interior administration, demands this in its final report.

According to the Commission's proposal, the state electoral office should be able to control the logistics of the election centrally and plan it together with the districts.

She also suggests hiring external companies to deliver and collect the ballot papers and polling booths.

So far, the districts have regulated this independently, in some electoral boards picked up the documents themselves, sometimes transported them on bicycles.

ptz/cte