About 550,000 voters in Berlin were summoned to the polls this Sunday to cast ballots for the third time in the September 2021 elections, which again devolved into farce. Administrative chaos touched 455 of the capital’s 2,256 districts and pushed the court to annul the results. On a day with three elections running simultaneously — national, regional, and multiple referendums — endless queues formed, absentee ballots circulated, and lists were incomplete. Citizens faced a marathon across the city that complicated movement and mobility. Berlin again earned a reputation as a capital that seems to resist order and common sense, even for those who are used to its quirks. Source: BBC.
In the replay, there were unmistakable signs of bureaucratic inefficiency among officials and a frustrating slowness in decision making. Two and a half years have passed since the elections that ended the Conservative era with Angela Merkel at the helm. A year later, regional votes were rescheduled in full, yet the larger question of the general election remained unresolved. The court addressed the new iteration, though only partially, affecting one in five voters. Source: Reuters.
Consequently, some residents on a given street were asked to vote while their neighbors just across the way were bypassed. A new mover in one of the affected areas was unexpectedly invited to repeat a vote they had not actually cast. Source: Associated Press.
Some of those not invited wondered why they were not given another chance, especially as they observed a coalition between the social democrats and their green and liberal partners. Those who said yes did not fully grasp why the request mattered, since no substantial change in the Bundestag’s balance of power was anticipated. The earlier round had unseated the social democrat Franziska Giffey in favor of conservative Kai Wegner. Yet half a million Berliners will not be able to alter the parliamentary landscape in a country of roughly 84 million. Source: Bloomberg.
One more complicating factor: since this is a repeat election, parties will run with the same lists that appeared in 2021. It will not be the first test for the leadership split within Die Linke under Sahra Wagenknecht at the ballot box. On the far right, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) features MP Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, who remains in provisional detention for alleged involvement in a coup attempt. Source: Financial Times.