Berliners are already going to the polls in a new state and municipal election after the original 2021 elections were annulled by the state Constitutional Court due to huge logistical problems on voting day.
In its annulment ruling, the Constitutional Court blamed German state authorities for delays in the opening of polling stations, lack of election materials, errors in the drafting of candidate lists and even the unsynchronized closing of the polls, all in the midst of the city’s notorious marathon, which brought efforts to stabilize the polls to a standstill.
In fact, not all legal problems have been solved. It so happens that the Berlin local elections were held on the same day as the federal elections, September 26, 2021, and the Constitutional has not yet ruled on the effects on the latter elections of the chaotic Berlin voting day. The Bundestag has recommended a partial rerun of the federal elections but the court has not ruled on the matter.
The repetition of the elections has even become a matter of pride for the electoral authorities to such an extent that the head of the Berlin electoral commission, Stephan Bröchler, invited international observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to verify the preparations.
«So many things went wrong in the 2021 elections, we lost so much of the electorate’s trust, that I thought it would be good to incorporate additional quality control,» Bröchler told a press conference, picked up by Deutsche Welle.
After a three-day visit, the OSCE declared its «high level of confidence» in the Berlin authorities although it refrained from sending an election observation mission. The Council of Europe has accepted Germany’s invitation and will send a dozen observers to the elections.
Polls collected by DPA indicate that there could be a change in the government of the city-state, which is currently made up of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), The Greens and The Left. Berlin has been governed since 2016 by a coalition of Social Democrats, Greens and and The Left. Social Democrat Franziska Giffey took over as mayor at the end of 2021.
The opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU), with its leading candidate Kai Wegner, is clearly ahead in the polls, driven by widespread dissatisfaction with the center-left government. However, the CDU, with 26 percent in voting intentions, is far from having a majority of its own and would need one or two coalition partners to elect Wegner as Giffey’s successor.
In Germany, the strongest party does not automatically provide the head of government, who is elected by Parliament. If, despite the loss of votes, the SPD, The Greens and The Left win a majority of seats in the House of Representatives, they could continue to govern.
The Greens’ leading candidate and current senator (minister) for the environment, Bettina Jarasch, claims the post of mayor for herself, should the environmental party finish ahead of the SPD.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
