The processing of the election glitches at the Constitutional Court has failed for the time being. Now it is much more likely that the election result will be invalid, says Gunnar Schupelius.
On September 26, elections to the Bundestag, the House of Representatives and the district assemblies were held in Berlin. There were serious glitches.
Ballot papers were missing or wrong ones were distributed. This hampered voting. Many voters capitulated in the long queues in front of the polling stations and returned without having achieved anything.
The election was contested by 30 plaintiffs. The Berlin Constitutional Court must decide whether the election result is valid or not.
But the processing failed for the time being. On Maundy Thursday, the constitutional judges painted a bleak picture: it is not possible for them to decide on the validity of the elections.
They still lack the overview. A total of 700 organizations and individuals were asked to rate, but only 100 responses were received by the March 31 deadline.
Now the Constitutional Court is requesting the “transcripts” of the election process from all 2,257 polling stations in Berlin, along with information on the organizational preparation of the election, on incorrect and missing ballot papers, on the duration of the closures, on the “interruptions in the elections”, on the “number of copied votes”. Ballot paper” and “on voting after 6 p.m.”.
This information must be available by May 23, then the judges want to work their way through the wealth of information in order to make a judgment at some point.
The scope of the investigation suggests that they are by no means certain that they can honor the election. New elections have now become much more likely.
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The picture thus approaches the impression that many Berliners got on election day: With so many mistakes, the elections cannot be valid! I myself witnessed the breakdowns. It took me several hours and three attempts to cast my votes.
It is now considered very likely that the elections will be repeated in individual voting districts, but possibly also in the whole of Berlin. This would affect the elections to the House of Representatives and to the district assemblies.
It is rather improbable that the federal elections were so falsified by the chaos in Berlin that a by-election would have to be held.
The elected politicians wanted to quickly forget last fall. “Swam over it” was the motto and a new edition of red-red-green the goal.
The coalition was quickly re-established, Müller replaced by Giffey – and on we went.
Two important questions remained unanswered: Why did the administration fail and how is it ensured that this failure does not repeat itself?
Answering these questions would be the task of the Governing Mayoress, who has so far not given us the answer.
Is Gunnar Schupelius right? Call: 030/2591 73153 or email: [email protected]
