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Counting for the repeat election in Berlin: One result after 868 days
Photo: Sebastian Gollnow / picture alliance / dpa
Berlin had to partially repeat the 2021 federal election - now, around two and a half years after the original election, all newly cast votes have been counted. In the 455 electoral districts of the repeat election, the traffic light parties SPD and FDP suffered significant losses - the Greens, who co-governed, were able to almost maintain their 2021 result. The opposition parties CDU and AfD made significant gains in the capital, as can be seen after all electoral districts were counted on the state election authority's website.
After counting all electoral districts, the SPD remains the strongest party in the capital with 22.2 percent (-1.2 percentage points), closely followed by the Greens with 22.0 percent (-0.3). The CDU improved to 17.2 percent (+1.3). The AfD climbs to 9.4 percent (+1.0) and pushes past the FDP, which falls to 8.1 percent (-0.9). With 11.5 percent, the Left practically maintains its result from the 2021 election (+0.1).
As expected, the partial repetition in the capital did not result in a shift in the majority. There were no changes compared to the 2021 federal election among directly elected representatives. All of the victorious candidates in the twelve federal constituencies retained their mandates.
However, if only the results in the repeat districts are considered, the losses are significantly higher, especially for the SPD and FDP.
In the Pankow district, which was particularly hard hit, the Social Democrats lost seven percentage points and the FDP lost 4.4 points. The Greens lost half a percentage point, while the AfD gained 5.7 points and the CDU 5.0 points.
The voter turnout was significantly lower than in the 2021 election. Extrapolated to the whole of Berlin, the repeat election reduced turnout by 5.7 points to 69.5 percent.
Around 550,000 Berliners, a fifth of all eligible voters, were asked to cast their vote again in 455 of the 2,257 electoral districts. The repetition became necessary after a series of mishaps occurred in 2021. Ballot papers were missing from several polling stations, and other locations were still open long after they had officially closed. The Federal Constitutional Court finally ordered a new edition.
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mrc/jok/AFP/dpa