On February 12, a repeat election to the House of Representatives will take place in Berlin. This election has already taken place: in September 2021, citizens were asked to vote. You can find out why the election has to be repeated here.
The original election of the Berlin House of Representatives took place on September 26, 2021. The House of Representatives represents the state parliament of the capital. Due to too many mistakes, however, the election has to be repeated on Sunday, February 12th. The polling stations are open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. It is also possible to vote by post.
But why was the election actually declared invalid? A series of glitches occurred during the chaotic election day. Major deficiencies were found both in the preparation for the election and in the course of the election, which is why the constitutional court ultimately saw the repetition of voting as the only solution in order to restore a “constitutional state”. For example, after 6 p.m. there were still long queues at the polling stations, even though the stations were supposed to be closed by then.
In addition, due to the complexity of the election process, some ballot papers were missing, which is why many votes were declared invalid. Measures taken due to the corona pandemic and the Berlin marathon taking place at the same time made the chaos complete.
Since the Federal Constitutional Court had ordered new elections, the old result was completely annulled. This means that Berliners can once again cast their votes for the House of Representatives and the twelve district assemblies. The Bundestag elections, which originally took place at the same time, will be held on a different date in some districts.
Since these are not new elections, but a repeat election, the parties are not allowed to nominate new candidates, so the same politicians are up for election as in 2021. This also raises the question of whether something is happening in the post of mayor in the federal capital. Franziska Giffey from the SPD will be the incumbent mayor. She is considered the top candidate. Bettina Jarasch represents the Greens, she wants to challenge Giffey for the office and is the current Senator for Transport. The CDU sends Kai Wegner into the race as the opposition’s top candidate. Klaus Lederer is available as a top candidate for the left and the FDP is represented by state chairman Sebastian Czaja.
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