From Hildburg Bruns
EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE! In extreme cases, 2,447,600 Berliners will be called to the polls in the spring. First for the vote on the House of Representatives and twelve districts, then later for the federal elections – so on two different Sundays!
Flashback, Sunday, September 26, 2021: Missing or incorrect ballot papers, the temporary closure of polling stations and the polls well after 7 p.m. In short: a never-before-seen chaos election!
Is Berlin now pressing redial?
We’re all a little smarter on Wednesday nights. At least as far as the Berlin elections are concerned.
► Who decides on the Berlin election?
Four women, five men – the nine judges of the Berlin Constitutional Court. It is her first hearing in three and a half years. What looks like a garden party in the photo is due to the Corona distance at the photo shoot. For the first time, they are not sitting in a room of the Superior Court either.
The nine constitutional judges had themselves photographed at a corona distance. Front center: President Ludgera Selting Photo: Platov
► Where is negotiation?
Today from 11 a.m. in the large lecture hall (B.001) of the Free University in Dahlem (Arnimallee). It will be the largest court hearing of all time in Berlin. Not only elected MPs can take part, but also unelected applicants – more than 200 – have announced themselves.
► What is forbidden?
Filming and photographing four minutes after the judges have entered, tablets with keyboards, bags larger than DIN A4.
Up to 600 people can be seated in the large lecture hall at Freie Universität Photo: Free University of Berlin
► What is negotiated?
Of the 35 objections to the election, four are called: the complaints of the state electoral authority, the interior administration, two political parties (AfD and the party) – the court wants to cover all relevant questions with this.
► Is there already a decision?
Could be, but unlikely. Latest date: December 28th. It is rumored that the reporter Prof. Dr. Sabrina Schönrock (51) will go in the direction of complete redialing in her introduction to the status of the procedure. A first legal assessment is expected from President Ludgera Selting (58).
► What does the Senate want?
Ex-Interior Senator Andreas Geisel (56, SPD) has lodged an objection in three constituencies with 14 polling stations: Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf (7 polling stations), Pankow (3), Marzahn-Hellersdorf (4). There were incidents in 150 polling stations, but only here, from the Senate’s point of view, were there electoral errors that could be relevant to the mandate. That means there was less than 100 votes between the top two.
Pure election chaos: A note certifies a person entitled to vote: “The election could not be carried out.” It is clear that 1,200 ballot papers were not distributed correctly Photo: Christian Lohse
► What is the AfD hoping for?
While the Senate is only assuming a re-vote on candidates (first votes), the AfD is demanding a re-vote on the parties (second votes) – they were only missing 1800 votes for an additional seat.
► Does a rerun shorten the election period?
The court will probably decide whether newly elected members only have four years left (as it was in Hamburg) or whether a new five-year round will start for everyone. A deputy voted out would only be entitled to one month’s transitional allowance (6657 euros gross).
► Who benefits from a redialG?
The Berlin CDU with Kai Wegner (50) sees an opportunity for government participation. With Bettina Jarasch (53), the Greens could provide the Red Town Hall boss for the first time. The (still) governing Franziska Giffey (44, SPD) is only in third place in polls with her party and could go down in city history as a short-term governor. One thing is clear: the candidates may not be exchanged before a repeat election.
Franziska Giffey won last September’s election thriller with 21.4 percent for the SPD. Now she is behind the Greens and the CDU in polls Photo: BZ
► How are things going with regard to the federal elections, which also took place on September 26?
The Bundestag will decide on its repetition in October. Those affected can lodge a complaint with the Federal Constitutional Court (Karlsruhe) within 60 days. From the Senate’s point of view, the excessively long opening of the polling stations is not a voting error, at the federal level it is assumed that it will be after 7 p.m. Possible consequence: Of the 2,257 polling stations, around 300 would have to be re-voted.
► Has anyone taken political responsibility for the election chaos?
Petra Michaelis (64), the responsible election officer at the time, asked the Senate to remove her in October. Interior Senator Geisel, who was responsible for legal supervision at the time, is now Senator for Building.
Successor Iris Spranger (61, SPD) has appointed Stephan Bröchler (60) as a new state returning officer and has ordered paper for the next ballot paper as a precaution – it shouldn’t fail in the spring.
There was a change after the redial
A repeat election would not be a first – it already happened in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein.
► 1993 state election in Hamburg
A group of 20 CDU members questioned the validity of the June 1991 election. Reason: the list of candidates at the CDU.
27 months later it was repeated: the FDP failed to get into parliament, the SPD lost 7.6 percent (3 seats), the CDU 10 percent (8 seats). The winners were the Hamburg Greens (GAL), who gained 6.3 percent, and publisher Markus Wegner’s new state party (69 today), who immediately cleared the 5 percent hurdle. The small parties were the winners.
The SPD could no longer provide the Senate alone. Henning Voscherau († 75) ruled with the new party.
► 2012 Schleswig-Holstein
After a lawsuit against the state elections law, the state elections of 2009 had to be repeated. The Greens and the Left were not content with the fact that more people voted for the opposition than for the government. The constitutional court saw it that way, ordered a new electoral law and new elections.
Consequence: a change of power! The CDU/FDP lost dramatically, the SPD, Greens and SSW opposition won a narrow majority. In addition, the pirates moved into the state parliament, the complaining left were thrown out.
Torsten Albig (59 today, SPD) replaced Peter Harry Carstensen (75, CDU) as Prime Minister.