Germany to Rerun Part of 2021 Election After Berlin Glitches

Iain Rogers
·2 min read

(Bloomberg) -- German lawmakers cleared a rerun of last year’s national election in six parliamentary districts in Berlin after irregularities at hundreds of the capital’s polling stations triggered official complaints.

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The plan, which was backed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s governing coalition but is likely to face constitutional challenges in court, provides an unusual postscript to the Sept. 26, 2021, election. Scholz’s government has a 96-seat majority in the lower house, or Bundestag, which voted 374 to 252 in favor of the rerun late Thursday.

Many voters in Berlin stood in line for hours on election day and some polling stations remained open long after broadcasters began running projections of the result. Missing or incorrect ballots caused delays and the Berlin marathon was held the same day, hampering movement around the city.

The repeat, which follows complaints by federal election officials about glitches in the city-state capital, applies to 431 of 2,257 polling places in Berlin. No date has been set and any challenges would end up in Federal Constitutional Court, a process that could take months.

Georg Thiel, Germany’s federal election commissioner, welcomed the Bundestag decision, saying it would provide “clarity” and help “ensure the long-term confidence of citizens in the correct conduct of the election.”

“Nevertheless, a number of important issues need to be clarified before the next elections,” he added. “For example, when are polling stations to be closed definitively after 6 p.m., or what waiting time in front of the polling stations is still acceptable for voters.”

Alongside choosing federal legislators who elect Germany’s chancellor, Berliners on the day also voted for regional and local representatives. A preliminary ruling by the regional constitutional court found that those votes would also have to be repeated, with a final decision expected Wednesday.

(Updates with federal election commissioner starting in fifth paragraph)

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