And again Berliners have to go to the ballot box (symbol photo) Photo: picture alliance / Ulrich Baumgarten
From BZ/dpa
The new state returning officer Stephan Bröchler has appealed to the people of Berlin to take part in the repeat elections for the House of Representatives and the district parliaments.
“Please go vote on February 12th. A high turnout strengthens our parliament and thus democracy,” said the administrative scientist, who has been in office since October, on Friday.
The September 2021 elections will be repeated on February 12, 2023 due to numerous glitches and organizational shortcomings. The state constitutional court had decided in mid-November. The documents for the postal vote will be sent out from January 2nd.
Bröchler pointed out the associated challenges: “It is a Herculean task to organize the repetition of the elections for the 19th Berlin House of Representatives and for the twelve Berlin district assemblies within 90 days by February 12, 2023.”
Conducting democratic elections is not rocket science, but it is a complex process in which one gear has to mesh with the other.
The new state returning officer Stephan Bröchler (59) Photo: Fabian Sommer/dpa
According to their own statements, the team of the state returning authority is working at full speed on the organization in cooperation with the districts. Among other things, polling stations would have to be found and prepared, poll workers trained, ballot papers printed in a quality-assured manner and brought to the polling stations. “We want and have to identify possible errors that are imminent at an early stage in order to be able to rectify them,” said Bröchler.