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Repeat election with dog: “The mistake must be cured”

Photo: Annegret Hilse / REUTERS

Germany's election year begins in Berlin - with an election in 2021. After there were numerous mishaps in the federal election in September 2021 in Berlin, the Federal Constitutional Court ordered a partial repeat. And that too was accompanied by new breakdowns, albeit on a much smaller scale. This was announced by state returning officer Stephan Bröchler.

In two cases there were delays in the voting process. In a polling station in the Pankow district, a key for a locked room with the voting documents was missing, as Bröchler described. The electoral board did not receive the key from the daycare center there. Documents were then delivered by the district, so that the restaurant opened at 8:40 a.m. with a 40-minute delay.

In Kreuzberg, according to Bröchler, an electoral board was delayed due to an accident with a taxi, so that the polling station in question also started late. “This can happen with the best organization,” said the state returning officer. At a polling station in Pankow, a board member was replaced by his deputy because he was said to have been "uncooperative." There were no delays there.

“The error must be cured”

Even if these “low-threshold” cases are annoying for Bröchler, there were no major incidents on Sunday until the early afternoon. Everything is in the “green area”. Overall, the returning officer hopes that the process will run smoothly. “The error must be cured,” said Bröchler about the 2021 election mishap.

A total of around 550,000 Berliners were called to vote again. They were able to vote in 455 of 2,257 electoral districts and the associated postal voting districts, i.e. in around a fifth. Taken together, that's less than one percent of the nationwide vote; the election doesn't have what it takes to change the balance of power in the Bundestag (you can read more about the background to the repeat election here).

In addition to the mishap-prone federal election, there were also elections in September 2021 for the House of Representatives, the district council assemblies and a referendum. The elections at the state and district level had already been completely repeated in February 2023.

mrc/dpa