Berlin’s City Constitutional Court has ruled that the 2021 elections in the German capital have been ruled invalid. Berlin will now legally be required to re-run the whole vote within 90 days.
To re-run the elections, the Berlin Senate must be completely redone within the next 90 days. The city’s constitutional court ruled that a previous ballot held last year was completely invalid. The reasoning was due to a whole host of election discrepancies.
Europe’s Winter of Discontent: Berlin Police Drawing Up Emergency Plans for Possible Energy Grid Collapse https://t.co/mN8QhiEspA
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Much like the American election, there are still questions that remain over Belin’s handling of the German general elections. It now looks likely that at least some constituencies within the city will have to repeat the polling process again due to irregularities the first time around.
German newspaper Die Welt reported that the city’s constitutional court officially ruled that issues surrounding missing ballot papers, insufficient ballot boxes, and polling stations being temporarily closed have rendered the city’s election invalid.
Such a ruling is in keeping with an opinion published by the court in early September. At. that time the court expressed serious concern as to how the election was handled.
A new election is now reportedly likely to occur in February.
Opposition parties in the city have largely welcomed the ruling. The branch of the populist Alternative für Deutschland party described the re-do election as Berlin getting a “second chance” after the “election chaos.” Chaos was blamed on the legacy parties currently holding power in the Berlin parliament.
Berlin's mayor launches reelection campaign with this poster and slogan: "Berlin's staying cosmopolitan" pic.twitter.com/IfxCTJnLcR
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The AfD is one party in particular to have significant reason to celebrate, with the party seeing its popularity surge across Germany over the last year. This is seeming as a result of the ongoing gas and cost of living crises in the country.
According to data gathered by POLITICO, the AfD is now sitting around 15 percent in current national polling. The Party’s popularity is only around 4 points behind the ruling Greens and Social Democratic Party.
According to reports issues surrounding how Berlin handled the nationwide general election occurred at the same time as its local elections. It is looking likely that the nationwide election will need to be at least partially re-run over disparities in the voting process.
