A fall. A shame. Germany’s capital, Berlin, earned the disdain of the entire country after the disastrous 2021 elections. The organization made so many mistakes that the court declared the result invalid. Today, 2.5 million Berliners can go to the polls again. However, repeating elections does not solve the problems.
Political scientist Stephan Bröchler comes to a clear conclusion: “What we experienced on September 26, 2021 was the result of structural errors, not an industrial accident or natural event.”
Professor Bröchler was part of the committee investigating the failed elections in Berlin. He was also able to benefit from his own experience. “My wife and I waited in line for an hour and a half to vote, and we knew something was wrong here. I checked my phone and immediately read that the problem is not limited to my own polling station.”
Marathon goes through the ballot box
There seemed to be no voting booths in various parts of the city. It also took much longer for voters to fill out their ballot papers than the organization had calculated. On this day, Berlin not only elected a new city council and new district councils, but also federal elections were held.
Worse still, there was also the Berlin marathon, which blocked most of the city to traffic. Voters and employees could not reach the polls. When they decisively closed their doors at 6 pm, hundreds of people were left on the sidewalks in frustration. A cocktail of mistakes that leaves town with a bad hangover.
More than a year later, in November 2022, the Berlin Constitutional Court rejected the election result. Within three months the vase had to be repeated under exactly the same conditions; as if it was still September 26, 2021.
“But of course that is not possible,” explains Stephan Bröchler, who is now appointed head of the electoral commission and now has ultimate responsibility for the new ballot box. “It’s not 2021 anymore. There is a war in Ukraine right now and there have been all kinds of political developments. The law already stipulates: as little change as possible.”
No longer a member but still eligible
This leads to all sorts of awkward situations; for example on ballot papers. For example, politician Ingrid Bertermann from the Mitte region recently switched from De Groenen to the socialist party Die Linke. However, in the new election, Bertermann is forced to return to the 17th place in his old party’s list of candidates, to the dismay of everyone. On his website, De Groenen replaced his photo with a gray area indicating he is no longer a member.
The case of De Groenen’s number 2 player is even more unusual. Stephan van Dassel had succeeded in becoming the district mayor in the previous elections. But he was expelled from the country last September after alleged conflicts of interest. But here, too, the 2021 ballot box should be repeated as precisely as possible. With this, Van Dassel returned to 2nd place.
Only deceased or displaced candidates were removed from the lists.
This hinders the work of Electoral Council President Bröchler. The short three-month preparation period and the judge’s strict requirements limit his ability to actually reform the Berlin elections. For example, he was not allowed to add new polling stations.
“I am like a king without a kingdom,” he sighs. “I am responsible for the entire choice, but I have no rights. Therefore, nothing came out of establishing a new organizational structure. That should really change later on.”
But Bröchler and the Electoral Commission assure that enough repairs have been made so that this embarrassment does not happen again today. “The number of voting booths at various points has been increased and can be expanded in case of unpredictable crowds. There are more admins on the site. Issues with ballot papers were also addressed.”
Finally, voters are no longer sent out at 6pm. Classes will be closed but “anyone who lines up at 6pm and does everything right can still vote”.
However, this may mean that some voters know their first guess of the outcome before they go to the polls. Bröchler: “Of course this is inappropriate, but we must compare the right to vote with some preliminary information from the electorate. For me, the right to vote is clearly a priority.”
The country’s highest court has yet to decide whether Berliners will go to the polls again for the Bundestag elections.
Source: NOS
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
