By Stephen Peter
That shouldn’t be a very relaxing holiday for Berlin’s politicians: new elections are actually threatening in the capital. The Bundestag wants to have the elections repeated in 400 polling stations!
The news came on Thursday evening: the Bundestag’s Election Review Committee is proposing to Parliament that new elections be held in Berlin. In mid-May there was a hearing with the Federal Returning Officer and Berlin’s Deputy Returning Officer, at which hair-raising details of the September 2021 chaos election were discussed.
“Therefore, electoral errors of this magnitude must be corrected by new elections so that all citizens have an equal opportunity to exercise their right to vote,” said Johannes Fechner (49, SPD), chairman of the committee, to “Spiegel”.
The committee wants 400 out of 2,300 polling stations to be re-voted. The districts of Mitte, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Reinickendorf, Pankow, Steglitz-Zehlendorf and Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf would be affected. The recommendation is now being worked out, and the Bundestag must decide on it in October. Against its decision, an action before the Federal Constitutional Court would be possible.
Head of the Red City Hall since December: Franziska Giffey (SPD) Photo: Annette Riedl/dpa
It is unclear what impact the Election Review Committee’s plans will have on the House of Representatives and the District Councils. In September, the Berlin Constitutional Court will decide whether there will also be new elections there. The shape of the constituencies is completely different, as there are significantly more MPs at stake. “Actually, you could only choose completely new ones,” said a surprised state politician to the BZ on Thursday evening
The Greens in particular would benefit from new elections at state level. If their top candidate Bettina Jarasch (53) gained significant votes in a repeat election, she might replace Franziska Giffey (44, SPD) as governing mayor.
Giffey’s competitor: Bettina Jarasch (Greens) Photo: Sven Darmer
CDU General Secretary Stefan Evers (42) criticized Thursday evening in a statement that quickly spread: “Despite all the warnings, the Senate has not yet made any preparations for a repeat of the elections. Head in the sand is not a strategy, Ms. Giffey!” And: Senator Andreas Geisel (56), responsible for the chaos elections of 2021, is still in office today – he just changed departments.
The leader of the AfD parliamentary group, Kristin Brinker (50), also commented on the recommendation for new elections in 400 Berlin constituencies: “The judgment of the Bundestag Commission is apparently even more devastating than that of the Berlin auditors. The failure of the Senate, especially that of Andreas Geisel, who was responsible at the time, is blatant and must have consequences.”
The other parties have not yet commented on a request from BZ
