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Berlin state returning officer Stephan Bröchler: “Significantly lower than what I was aiming for”
Photo: Christoph Soeder/dpa
In all likelihood, significantly fewer people took part in the partial repeat election in Berlin than in 2021. As of 4 p.m. on Sunday, only 40.2 percent of those eligible to vote had cast their vote. The turnout therefore remained significantly below what state returning officer Stephan Bröchler had hoped for.
For comparison: On September 26, 2021, at the same time two hours before the polling stations closed, the number was 57 percent in the electoral districts in question. In all Berlin electoral districts combined - including those that did not vote again - voter turnout in the federal election was 75.2 percent.
"We're comparing apples and pears to a certain extent"
“It is significantly lower than what I was aiming for,” Bröchler told the dpa news agency on Sunday evening. But he has a possible explanation ready: For Berliners, it was significantly less attractive to take part in a partial repeat election, which would not change the political majority in the German Bundestag, than in an election like 2021. "That's the core of it democratic elections so that we as citizens can at least influence the majority situation to some extent.
“The repeat election did not have the same charisma as in 2021,” said Bröchler. That was also a special constellation. “We are comparing apples and oranges to a certain extent.” The 2021 election was a federal election, a state election, a district election plus a referendum. »And that pulled hard. In this respect, this puts the 40 percent that was achieved in perspective. But of course I’m still a little sad.”
It is not yet possible to say whether Berlin will lose one or more seats in the Bundestag to other federal states due to the lower voter turnout. “I don’t have enough data for that yet,” said Bröchler.
mrc/dpa