The German national election held last year must be completely re-run in the city of Berlin as a result of multiple discrepancies plaguing the result, a court in the city has said.
As a result of a wide variety of serious voting irregularities in Berlin, elections that took place in the city last year — including the nationwide general election — must now be re-run in the city, a court declared on Wednesday.
Ranging from a lack of ballot papers, periodic polling station closures and massive queues for people looking to vote, last year’s vote in Berlin has ultimately been described as “a complete systemic failure“, with many fearing that all votes that took place may have to be held again.
Such fears have been given even more credence this week, with Berlin’s Constitutional Court declaring that — in its view — it is necessary that all elections that took place in September 2021 in the city have a do-over.
According to a report by Die Welt, it is the preliminary view of the court that the discrepancies in voting in Berlin were significant, and that they have had a meaningful effect on the mandate given to political parties at a national level.
Data from the election reportedly shows that polling stations in the city were closed for a cumulative 83 hours due to missing ballot papers, with nearly half of voting locations staying open after 6pm, when the period of polling was meant to close.
To make matters worse, not all of these discrepancies were properly recorded, making it impossible to narrow down exactly how badly the electoral process was affected in each individual part of Berlin.
As a result, the court believes that a re-run of the election is necessary in order to protect national confidence in German democracy, though Die Welt notes that around 35 objections have been officially filed rejecting calls for last year’s polls to be repeated.
Judges will now reportedly have up to three months to come to a final conclusion on the election.
German Elections Might Be Re-Run in Berlin Over Vote Irregularitieshttps://t.co/VGFhNyGfMa
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) May 26, 2022
The prospect of re-running the country’s general election will no doubt leave many politicians in the country displeased, with the city’s satisfaction for the country’s ruling leftist coalition, in particular, having fallen significantly since last year’s poll.
According to polling commissioned by the Berliner Morgenpost, while support for the German Green party is up slightly as of last week, the number of voters willing to put their ballots behind the leftist Social Democratic Party and the liberal Free Democratic Party has fallen significantly.
Meanwhile, both the centrist Christian Democratic Union and the populist Alternative for Germany have seen significant growth in support in the city, likely as a result of the current government’s chronic mismanagement of the ongoing energy crisis, which could see many unable to properly heat their homes over the winter months.
Where local politics are concerned, the publication believes that a poll tomorrow would still likely result in a leftist coalition being able to hold the city’s parliament, though it notes that a strong performance from the Christian Democratic Union, in particular, could be enough to change the constitution of the city’s ruling coalition.
Slightly more recent national polling however has the country’s ruling coalition falling even further, with nationwide Green party minister Robert Habeck in particular earning the ire of voters for his recent mishandling of economic issues in the country, a factor which may further dissuade voters in Berlin from voting for the party if given the opportunity to do so.
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