The tussle over the re-election of parts of the Bundestag is entering the next round. At their meeting this Thursday, the members of the Election Review Committee were also unable to agree on the scope of new voting in Berlin. Since the representatives of the traffic light coalition form the majority in this body, it would have been up to them to take a corresponding decision. The Bundestag then has to vote on this.
The reason for the new delay is that there is no agreement on how many Berlin constituencies should be re-voted. Federal Returning Officer Georg Thiel, who had lodged an objection to the election, is demanding a new vote in half of the Berlin constituencies. The members of the traffic light coalition, on the other hand, want to have fewer new elections. “I’m already increasing the pressure,” says committee chairwoman Daniela Ludwig (CSU). “It’s not possible for us to meet here in the spring.” Ludwig therefore wants to schedule a new meeting of the committee as early as next week. If a decision is then made, the Bundestag could decide on it this year.
During the elections on September 26 last year, there were numerous mishaps in Berlin: ballot papers were missing, long queues formed in front of some polling stations, which meant that some bars had to remain open well after 6 p.m. In addition to the Bundestag, votes were also taken on the House of Representatives, the district parliaments and a referendum in the capital on this day; the Berlin marathon took place at the same time.
A green lawyer complains about the “politicization of the process”
The Berlin Constitutional Court wants to make a final decision on the scope of the new elections to the House of Representatives on November 16th. Two weeks ago, however, the judges advocated a “preliminary legal opinion” for the election to be carried out from scratch. Berlin’s new state returning officer, Stephan Bröchler, assumes that this assessment will hold up: “I’m preparing for a full re-election in mid-February,” he said a few days ago.
The election examination committee, which in turn examines the federal election, should have had a decision long ago. Even before the summer break, the committee had found a compromise that not only the members of the traffic light coalition wanted to support. Accordingly, new elections should be held in 440 of the 2,200 polling stations. The committee should make this decision at the first meeting after the summer break. Since then, however, the representatives of the SPD, Greens and FDP have postponed the decision several times. The traffic light coalition withdrew a new decision on Wednesday that would include far fewer than the 440 polling stations.
As a result of the tough struggle, even members of the coalition are left with the question of whether the parliamentarians alone are the right people to control their own elections. “The politicization of the procedure has shown that the scrutiny of elections in a Bundestag committee that reflects the majority of the Bundestag is not in good hands,” says Awet Tesfaiesus, a member of the Greens in the committee. The lawyer advocates having elections checked outside of parliament. For example, in a first step by a panel of judges and members of parliament.