In the elections for the Berlin House of Representatives, Social Democrats and Greens are in a neck-and-neck race. Initial forecasts by rbb and ZDF did not identify a clear winner. The Social Democrats who competed in Berlin with Federal Family Minister Franziska Giffey were therefore between 21.5 and 23 percent. In 2016, the social democrats in the capital had reached 21.6 percent. The Greens with top candidate Bettina Jarasch are in the forecasts between 22 and 23.5 percent. Accordingly, the party was able to gain significantly compared to the House of Representatives in 2016; at that time the Greens got 15.2 percent of the vote.
According to forecasts, around 14 percent voted for the left, which stood with incumbent Senator for Culture Klaus Lederer, and 15 to 17 percent for the CDU. The Left had 15.6 percent and the CDU 17.1 percent in 2016. According to the forecasts, the Berlin FDP achieved around eight percent; In 2016 it was 6.7. The biggest losses emerged in the evening for the Berlin AfD. They saw forecasts at seven to eight percent; In 2016, the AfD won almost twice as many votes with a good 14 percent.
The Berliners were called on Sunday to cast their vote on four decisions. In addition to the Bundestag election and the election to the House of Representatives, over twelve district parliaments were redefined. In addition, voters could vote on whether large housing groups with more than 3,000 apartments should be expropriated. According to the state election control, there have never been so many votes in one day in Berlin.
During the election on Sunday there were numerous mishaps and long waiting times for voters. According to the newspaper Tagesspiegel, several polling stations had to close because the voting papers ran out in the afternoon. Replenishment could not be delivered immediately, allegedly there were logistical problems because of the Berlin Marathon taking place at the same time. In addition, some polling stations received false ballot papers, namely ballot papers from other districts. In three polling stations in the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district, for example, there were only ballots from the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district for the election to the House of Representatives. Until the correct ballot papers were delivered, the polling stations had to be temporarily closed and votes cast on false ballot papers had to be declared invalid.
Although the number of postal voters in Berlin had already reached almost forty percent a week ago, there were long queues in front of some polling stations, apparently because there were too few voting booths.
The regional returning officer Petra Michaelis confirmed several breakdowns to the RBB.
From their office it was said that whoever stood in line until 6 p.m. was still allowed to vote.
Usually the polling stations close at 6 p.m.
In addition to organizational failure, there was also human failure: the polling office manager did not appear in the Spandau district on Sunday morning.
The electoral roll had to be picked up by the police, reported the RBB.