Berlin is voting again: What you need to know about the repeat election

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Election campaign in Berlin: MPs like CDU politician Ottilie Klein will run in the repeat election after 2021

Photo: Annette Riedl/dpa

Anyone who has watched the Green Party's election campaign in Berlin in the past few days might think that this Sunday it will be more than 0.91 percent. This proportion of the second votes cast nationwide in the 2021 federal election were in those Berlin electoral districts whose results were later declared invalid due to massive glitches. Now Berliners in these areas are called upon to repeat the election.

Almost 870 days have passed since the original election date. Since September 2021 there has been a change in the federal government, the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, an energy crisis, and Hamas' terrorist attack on Israel. And although the world has changed enormously, Berlin is still trying to turn back the clock in a way on Sunday.

The result does not have what it takes to overturn the balance of power in parliament (read the most important answers to the repeat election here). Nevertheless, what is happening in Berlin could be an initial test of sentiment for what lies ahead for Germany with the European elections and the three state elections in September. The Greens placed a correspondingly high value on this week's election.

Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck spoke of a “small, big federal election” on Tuesday at an event in a cinema in Prenzlauer Berg, actually a home venue for the Greens. People have to do something to counter “the anger, the hatred, the exclusion, the destructive,” said Habeck. That is “the actual election mandate for the election year 2024” – and for election Sunday in Berlin.

Federal Chairwoman Ricarda Lang also came and she also dedicated her speech to the fight against right-wing extremism. To defend ourselves against this is a democratic duty, says Lang. The aim, on the other hand, is to fill this democracy with life - for example with two votes for the Greens.

The SPD takes a similar view: In the German super election year, the fight against right-wing extremism should become one of the core issues for the comrades. The mini-election in Berlin could well be an endurance test for the traffic light parties SPD, Greens and FDP. In the current Sunday questions, all three parties have slipped significantly, the Union is ahead with a good 30 percent. At the same time, the AfD has doubled its shares compared to the 2021 election results; recent revelations and mass demonstrations against right-wing extremism have so far hardly shaken this increase.

»A clear signal to the traffic lights«

A look at the facade of the party headquarters shows how important the CDU takes the repeat election. “Berlin, your chance,” says a large poster there. In many districts, citizens now have “the chance to send a clear signal to the traffic lights,” the party announces.

The fact that new elections have to be held at all is the result of a series of mishaps on election evening two and a half years ago. In Berlin, people were called to vote in the federal election and the election of representatives at the same time in September 2021. There was chaos on election day because the Berlin Marathon was also taking place at the same time. In many polling stations, ballot papers were missing and voting documents were mixed up. Some polling stations were also open until the evening to accommodate the rush - while the first projections were already known. The Federal Constitutional Court ultimately ordered a repeat in 455 of the 2,257 electoral districts.

Last year, the parliamentary election was completely repeated - with the result that the CDU led by Kai Wegner now leads the state government.

Now, for the partial rerun of the federal election, many people are being called upon to cast their vote again, especially in the constituencies of Pankow and Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. And this can sometimes have an impact, especially in the second constituency.

Struggle for the direct mandate

In Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, the former governing mayor Michael Müller won the direct mandate for the SPD. With 27.9 percent, he achieved the best result in the first votes. The current Federal Family Minister Lisa Paus from the Greens received 24.4 percent of the first votes in 2021, and the CDU candidate Klaus-Dieter Gröhler received 22.3 percent of the first votes. Gröhler hopes to return to the Bundestag, Müller and Paus would still be represented in the Bundestag even if they did poorly through good placements on the respective state lists.

Others might be less lucky. If the voter turnout is significantly lower, the number of the current 29 seats for Berlin MPs could be reduced. There would then be another seat for the respective party from another federal state. In Berlin, those who were placed at the bottom of the state lists in 2021 could then lose their mandate. Then suddenly 0.91 percent of the second votes can be decisive.