The 2021 Bundestag elections will have to be held again in the German state of Berlin partly due to irregularities. The German Constitutional Court has determined this German media Tuesday. New elections must be held in 455 of the 2,256 constituencies within sixty days.
The Bundestag itself had already determined in November last year that the election results were partially invalid. It is expected that the new partial voting will not cause major political shifts.
Unfilled ballots copied
In September 2021, in addition to regional elections, Bundestag elections were also held in Berlin. At the time, they resulted in chaos. Several polling stations in the German capital were short of ballots during the day. Providing new ballot papers that day proved complicated due to the Berlin Marathon that was taking place.
Uncompleted ballots were hastily copied at several polling stations. Thousands of these were also used during the day, rendering these votes invalid. Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD won the elections at the time with more than 25 percent of the votes. The CDU/CSU, the party of former Chancellor Angela Merkel, achieved 24 percent: a historic low.
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