by Ninni Radicini * –
On the occasion of the federal legislative elections of 26 September 2021, a series of unforeseen events occurred in various polling stations in Berlin, such as the lack of ballot papers, the presence of ballot papers from different constituencies, the extension of voting beyond 6pm, the time in which exit polls began to be published in the mass media. In November 2022 the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag) decided to repeat the vote in the Berlin constituencies in question, i.e. in 431 of the capital’s 2,257 polling stations.
The Union (CDU Christian-Democratic Union / CSU Christian-Social Union) considered that the number of electoral seats in which to repeat the electoral consultation should be greater than the 431 established, as in fact it was then decided in December 2023 by the Constitutional Court, which extended to 455. The partial repetition of the federal elections in Berlin would however not have been able to change the overall balance of the Bundestag, impacting only 0.91% on the overall calculation. But he could possibly have changed the Berlin representatives in the federal parliament, both in the majority and proportional shares.
In September 2021, Berlin voters, in addition to the federal elections, also voted for the renewal of seats in the State Assembly and for the District Councils. In November 2022, the Constitutional Court of the Land of Berlin, based on the setbacks encountered in various polling stations, declared the local consultation null and void and ordered the repetition of the vote, which took place in February 2023 and resulted in a change of majority in the Land, with the transition from a coalition formed by the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the Left and the Greens to a coalition between the CDU and the SPD.
During the election campaign, the repetition of the Federal Legislatives was considered by the opposition parties as an opportunity for feedback in particular on the government parties – SPD, Greens, FDP – or the so-called “Traffic Light” coalition from voters in a city in which in particular the Left-wing formations (SPD, Greens, The Left) have tended to obtain higher results compared to the average in the Federal Republic of Germany, although in the most recent consultations held in the capital CDU and Alternative for Germany (AfD) have increased their consensus.
On 11 February in Berlin, less than 600 days before the next federal election scheduled for autumn 2025, voters returned to the polls to repeat their vote for the 2021 federal elections. In particular, the 550 thousand voters were called back to the polls eligible voters (out of a total of 2.47 million in Berlin) in 455 polling stations. Faced with a voter turnout of 51%, a significant decrease (-25.7%) compared to the 2021 figure, the three parties of the current federal government coalition: SPD and FDP recorded significant losses; the Greens confirmed the 2021 result.
Conversely, the main opposition parties – CDU and AfD – increased their percentage of support. The Greens are the first party with 27.6% (+0.5), followed by the CDU 20.6% (+6.9), the SPD 14.6% (-7.8), the AfD 12.6% (+5.6), the Left 12.6% (+0.7), the FDP 3.3 % (-5.7).
Considering the renewed data in the polling stations where the vote was repeated, in the overall framework of the lists in the entire city of Berlin, with a turnout resulting at 69.5% (-5.7), the SPD was the first party with 22.2% (-1.2), followed by the Greens 22% (-0.3), CDU 17.2% (+1.3), The Left 11.5% (+0.1), AfD 9.4% (+1), FDP 8.1% (-0.9), Other lists 9.4% (=).
Projecting the renewed overall data of Berlin into the federal framework for the composition of the Bundestag, with a turnout resulting at 76.4% (-0.2), SDP confirmed itself as the first party with 25.7% (=) and 206 seats, CDU/CSU 24.1% (=) and 197 seats, Greens 14.7% (-0.1) and 118 seats, FDP 11.4% (-0.1) and 91 seats, AfD 10.4% (+0.1) and 83 seats, The Left 4.9% (=) and 39 seats. Other lists together totaled 8.8%, including the share of the South Schleswig Voters’ Association (SSW) (1 seat).
As expected, the partial repetition of the federal elections in the German capital did not affect the balance in the Bundestag nor the government majority but it gave indications worthy of evaluation, given the particular local electoral political context. All the candidates elected deputies with the majority system in the twelve federal electoral districts in 2021 have been reconfirmed. The Greens, despite losing a fraction of a percentage point, increased their support. The seats of La Sinistra were also confirmed, which in the Federal Legislatives of September 2021, despite having remained below the threshold of 5% (obtained 4.9%), managed to participate in the allocation of seats, given that three of its candidates were the most votes in three constituencies (seat assigned with the majority share). It should be noted that, at the federal level, following the results in the proportional quota (the list vote), the FDP lost one seat, going from 92 to 91 and consequently in the Bundestag the number of seats went from 736 to 735.
* Nini Radicini he has published various articles on Germany (political-electoral-historical area). Articles on other topics have been published in various periodicals. He has also published reviews and prefaces to books. He co-authored the book Contemporary Greece (1974-2006).