From Hildburg Bruns
Breathe easy in Berlin. Doris König (65), Vice President of the Federal Constitutional Court, saved the Berlin election on February 12 with six colleagues in red robes. At least for now.
On behalf of the people, König & Co. rejected a lightning decision on a constitutional complaint. 43 Berliners (mostly politicians) wanted to overturn the election date for all of Berlin. Their argument: After all, there weren’t election glitches in all polling stations.
Meanwhile, preparations for the election in the capital are in full swing. One in four eligible voters (688,467) has already ordered postal voting documents or filled out their ballot papers on site. In the 2021 chaos election, however, it was already 30 percent just two weeks before election day.
Zehlendorf town hall: Around 50 election workers work on the first floor, bagging the requested postal voting documents Photo: Ralf Gunther
“To say stop in this situation would have caused a lot more trouble in an already complex and confusing process,” said FU election researcher Thorsten Faas (47). “I think in the balance, the lesser evil is not to postpone the election date.”
Because the complaint of the 43 plaintiffs has not yet been settled. From March onwards, the seven Karlsruhe judges (2nd Senate) will examine more closely whether the chaos vote in November was rightly declared invalid by Berlin lawyers. And that makes the upcoming repeat a shaky choice afterwards.
“It is unfortunate that the Federal Constitutional Court wants to make the decision on the main issue only after the election date. As a result, Berliners will only vote with reservations on February 12,” says Kristin Brinker (50, AfD).
Which scenarios after election day are still possible?
► The court subsequently criticized the complete election, instead ordering a partial election – that would be the third ballot for the voters concerned and another nail-biter for the candidates!
► The court dismisses the main claim – the result of the repeat election is not affected.
► The court recognizes the repeat election, but writes warning words to the Berlin constitutional court in the register.
One of the 43 plaintiffs is Kevin Hönicke (38, SPD). The building councilor from Lichtenberg says: “The fact that there will be elections on February 12 is not what we wanted. But it has to be respected. Now we have to be careful that the election chaos doesn’t increase and that as many people as possible vote.”